Wheter or not it is fast enough depends on you. Certainly a road bike is faster in terms of both top speed and cruising speed. It has higher gearing and lower drag.

In a stop and go situation with lots of traffic lights, the ability to quickly shift gears, even at a stop means you can be very fast off the line. I'm faster on my commute door to door, on my Nexus bike than on my wife's road bike. On the other hand, riding the bike path (no stops) to pick up one of our cars from the shop, the road bike is quicker. So the answer to the speed question is "it depends."

A freewheel is a freewheel. There should be no more coasting drag on the rear wheel tan on any other bike. I'd ask the shop to check it. The front dynohub has some drag even with the light off, and this is normal. You can feel it when you spin the wheel by hand, but not when you are riding. When I converted my bike to hub dynamo, I left the sidewall generator on, thinking I would swap out the front wheel in the summer. However, the dynohub is so much better than the sidewall unit that I leave it on all year round.

One more definition of speed is total breakfast-to-desk-time. The upright position and chainguard mean you don't have to spend time changing clothing before and after a ride. For rides of up to 6 miles, this may be a huge time/convenience advantage. Another consideration is maintenance time. If you ride five hours a week and spend one hour on maintenance/cleaning, the Breezer can reduce your six hours of "bike time" to a bit over five, effectively making you nearly 20% faster.

I've seen several Breezers. These seem to use a lot of mountain bike components, not surprisingly, considering Joe Breeze's background. That means fat tires on 26" rims. Fat tires have some benefits: they don't have to be pumped up as often, they are usually more puncture resistant, work well on paint stripes, and metal plates and grates, and ride better through potholes and rocks.

If you like the bike and it matches your mission, buy it. Otherwise, buy something else. If you are going to ride it for an hour every day, you will spend a lot of your life on it, so be sure your commuter bike is something you really like. Test rides and an unhurried approach are good, I think.

I prefer the woman's versions. I can ride in an overcoat, the top tube is a hassle to clear, and I don't have to worry about splitting my pants. I figure that a gentleman should not have to lift his leg like a dog.

Paul