Technojunkie

Anyone seen a Breezer Finesse yet? Ride one? Is it even out yet? I want a commuter bike, was looking at the Breezer Uptown 8 but the Finesse has disc brakes and might be faster? Breezer's supersize grocery panniers ought to be good enough for me, though I might want the option of fitting a Xtracycle Freeradical if the bike can handle it. Being able to haul a couple sacks of groceries would be very useful.

I'm looking at 2-7 mile one-way commuting trips and longer "fun" trips. Hills? Yup. Moon crater surface roads? Yup. I'm not overly picky about weight, compared to my 190 pounds (decent shape) I figure the bike is mostly incidental, but I do want something that I'm not going to break when loaded down. There's a local Breezer dealer that I've yet to visit.

Or is this overkill for someone who's just getting back into biking? Am I just asking for the shiny new bike to get stolen? Breezer's look like a reasonably idiot-proof choice if I do buy new?

Lot's Knife

Spendy. ($1,900 retail)

Technojunkie

Ouch. Didn't know that. The Uptown 8's are considerably less than that I think?

Jeffbeerman2

wow. I would guess that you could do a better custom build for that kind of coin, on a Taiwanese frame like that

Sirrus Rider

The Breezer Citizen 3 Starts at around $600 and for a turnkey starting-out-with-nothing solution it's not bad. Yes, there are ways of putting together commuter for far cheaper using an older bike, but for a brand-new already outfitted bike you can't beat it. I've probably at least that much in my new Sirrus hybrid and I've yet to put any sort of lighting system on it. I imagine the uptown 8's are between 600 and $1,000.

Lot's Knife

I've been riding a Citizen for almost two years. I can't decide if buying one is a good idea.

Pros: The full fenders are awesome. The rack is rock-solid. There's a chain guard. The internally geared Shimano 3-speed seems to be indestructible.

Cons: I hated the flat bars and got them replaced. I love internal gears, but, frankly, they make rear-tire flats a pain in the ass. No matter how delicately you treat the internal-gear mechanism, the gears don't change correctly after you've fixed a flat (yes, I've lined up the stripe in the window; what am I doing wrong?). Additionally, on my 2005 Breezer, ticks and clicks develop when the left pedal is on the downstroke. This problem crops up every 6 months or so. The bike shop usually attributes this to a service need in the bottom bracket, but not always.

Conclusion: I hate to say this but the Breezer has been a pain in the ass. The lighting system gave out at 13 months. Power was no longer being delivered to the rear light. My LBS said they would need to keep the bike "a few days" to rewire. Please. Instead, I bought a variety of Cateye and Planet Bike and Serfas headlamps and rear lights. And a battery charger than can accommodate double- and triple-A's. Rechargeables rule.

Best advice I ever got here? Before leaving the shop with your new bike, get your pedals and seat (and possibly handlebars) swapped out.

As for the Breezer Citizen? In some ways my first love. Lots of joy (still).

Install Mr. Tuffys, keep your Kevlar-belted tires inflated, and ride without fear.

Sirrus Rider

You might want to try greasing your seat rails. Yeah I know that sounds weird, but I had a similar issue on my racing bike were I was getting a tick/ click on the downstoke. Solved the problem.

Torrilin

The Uptown lists at about $950. Locally, it runs about a grand. If your main desire is for a bike that rides rather like a sporty station wagon, this is your bike. (tho really any European style city bike fits in this category - they're very well equipped for transportation)

If you haven't done a lot of biking, you won't have a real clear idea of what you want/need. I'm not sure I'd recommend going right out and buying a Breezer in that case. A used English 3 speed is very similar (tho often heavier), and if you're in a flat area, it would be more than fine. Madison has some hills, but for the vast majority of my riding a 3 speed would suit.

These aren't "go-fast" bikes tho. They're "haul-lots" bikes *g*. If go fast sounds appealing/important to you, these maybe aren't your bikes.

kf5nd

That's about $1000 too much

HardyWeinberg

I wonder what it would cost to tack a dynohub rack and fenders onto this one:

https://www.brodiebikes.com/2008/2008_bikes/ocho.php

No carbon, I guess.

Jeffbeerman2

It looks like that bike has the same lighting system I own.

Hub:$90
Head: $100
Tail: $30
Rack: $50
Fenders: $30

Answer: about $300

Technojunkie

Mostly I just thought that a bike that comes with a rack, dynohub and LED lights, fenders, internal gearing and preferably disc brakes would be convenient. The Uptown 8 doesn't have disc brakes so the Finesse looked interesting but I don't care about expensive carbon. Faster would be nice but not at the expense of hauling. I can always get a fast bike later, when/if I can justify it. Seems like a lot of people here have multiple bikes to suit their mood/need.

I think Torrilin's right. I should probably just clean up an old 3 speed and see how it goes first. A little extra work climbing hills isn't going to hurt me. There's no shortage of bikes for sale on the local Craigslist too.

HardyWeinberg

Some more possibilities here:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...t=#post5809514

thdave

I love my Breezer even though it has a few warts. I've got over 3500 miles on it now and ride it most every day.

Here's a thread I started on my Breezer Villager. It has some honest comments on the bike.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...llager+breezer

The bike's a lot of fun to ride, so give it a spin. I doubt the Finesse is much faster than the Uptown, but I could be wrong. I'm sure the aero bars are nice, but the upright seating position and the comfort bike geometry will slow you down some. They aren't as aggressive as that of a mountain bike. I think Breezer's are a good value so I suspect you get a lot for the $1900--but I haven't seen one and the Breezer website doesn't have the specs.

Note that you don't need to take the wheel off to change a flat! People complain about the difficulty of that but if you keep the wheel attached to the cable and change the tire on the other side there's really no issue here.

The crank issue I think would be gone on the Finesse, since it had to do with the chainguard. I changed my handlebar grips to the Ergon style and that improved things nicely--I did have some hand pain with the handlebars. I also changed out the pedals and put on Marathon plus tires. I've found my generator light doesn't work well in the rain so I might change that out, too, one day. I'd like the hub dynamo. The lights are great, imo, when it doesn't rain. Once in a rare while they don't work but if I take out the connectors and clean them a bit (spray them with connector cleaner) it works like a charm next time.

The Breezer grocery pannier is awesome--it's funny you mentioned that! Big fan of it. I get two grocery bags worth in it all the time.

Technojunkie

Good info thdave. This all started with trying to figure out how I'd transport sacks of groceries home from the local Whole Foods that never has enough parking spaces so one or two (can you mount two?) grocery panniers would be extremely useful. It sounds like the Uptown 8 would be the way to go if I buy a Breezer, if only to get the presumably more reliable hub dynamo, but it bugs me that it doesn't have disc brakes. The 20MPH you're getting sounds decent enough.

There's a Specialized Rockhopper Comp for sale on Craigslist that sounds interesting, that has disc brakes. I'd have to buy a rack, fenders, etc to convert it to a commuter bike but I only need a rack and panniers to start with. That bike might make a better Freeradical conversion? But I probably wouldn't want to bother with the Freeradical if I bought a Breezer with its larger than normal rack in the first place?

I still haven't bought a helmet. There's a new REI in Ann Arbor opening Friday, I might take advantage of the festivities and pick up a helmet while I'm at it.