Foldable Bikes Party: Throwback Thursday: 1983 Breezer Series 3

Friday, 4 September 2015

Throwback Thursday: 1983 Breezer Series 3

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Itâ€™s a golden age for mountain bikes right now with a wealth of fantastic options in all sorts of different specialties. If you had the idea of riding off-road nearly four decades ago, though, your options were distinctly more limited as the sport was just getting off the ground. The solution? If you were Joe Breeze, you just built it yourself.

Of all the mountain bikes of historical value, few are more highly coveted than original Breezers: the first bikes purpose-built for riding off-road, and of which Breeze made fewer than 100. Like the two generations that came before it, this 1983 Series 3 is built with fillet brazed chromoly tubing and horizontal Campagnolo dropouts, all finished in a gorgeous â€“ and incredibly durable â€“ nickel plating that not only looks fantastic but has stood the test of time.

One of most coveted labels in mountain bike history

The matching fork bears a sleeved unicrown construction that boosts strength in a critical area without requiring larger-diameter tubing throughout the whole length (which would compromise the ride quality). Up top, the custom stem employs a novel threaded/threadless hybrid setup with a threaded headset but a stem that clamps on to short stub brazed into the steerer tube.

Geometry reflects the thinking of the day, with long chainstays, short (and level) top tube, and slack seat tube, all of which were tailored to backcountry exploring and bombing down treacherous dirt fire roads.