Tyres with the viscosity of Lego bricks, smoking drum brakes, zero suspension on spongy frames: In the seventies, the Repack race was an arena for heroes, long-haired hippies with moustaches in blue jeans and flannel shirts. Only the bravest could win - or the one with the best material. "Hi, I'm Joe. Welcome to my workshop," Breeze greets me.
For many bikers today, Joe Breeze is a god
Fairfax, Marin County, Meadow Way number 18: His house, clad in dark wooden shingles, is hidden between mighty cedars. I am entering sacred ground - the delivery room of mountain biking. Joe Breeze, 60 years old, no longer has anything in common with hippies. He looks young and fit, has a healthy tan and always has a smile on his lips. Breeze is a cycling fanatic. Even as a teenager, he was addicted to cycling and always looking to broaden his horizons. That's why he was already cycling through Europe at the age of 17. After an accident and a bent fork, he went to Milan in 1971 to see Cino Cinelli, the guru of frame construction at the time. Breeze bought a new fork, a new stem and cycling shoes. The encounter left its mark on him: "I looked like Jesus back then. With a full beard and long hair. For Cinelli, I was just a cyclist. Shaking his hand was like meeting God," says Breeze in a gentle voice. For many bikers today, Breeze is a god. Because Breeze breathed life into the sport of mountain biking.
Training on Mount Tamalpais
While still an active road racer, together with Gary Fisher in the club, Breeze bought his first bike with fat tyres for five dollars in 1973, a 1941 BF Goodrich with a Schwinn frame. The 20-kilo blue and white monster got the ball rolling. Bored with the roads in Marin County, Breeze and his friend Otis Guy decided to ride the BF Goodrich up Mount Tamalpais for a change. "We hitchhiked to the top. We sat on the mountain, looked out over San Francisco and said, 'That's cool, but who would want to do THAT besides us?" DAS quickly inspired several people: Charlie Kelly from the clique organised the first race in 1976 and called it Repack. Repack because the overheated drum brakes always had to be refilled with grease after the 3.3 kilometres with 400 metres of gradient. The race was an incentive for the further development of the bikes. "The bikes had to be more stable," Breeze knew, and with his experience in the production of racing bike frames, he welded a Repack winning machine in 1977. From then on, Joe Breeze was not only courageous, but also had the best material.
Joe Breeze in a BIKE interview
BIKE: Wikipedia says: Gary Fisher is the inventor of the mountain bike. What role did Fisher really play in this process?
Joe Breeze: Gary is a spokesman. He has a feeling for the right moment and is in the right place at the right time.
What is your relationship with Gary Fisher like?
We get along with each other.
Were you competitors?
Fisher and I were in the same cycling club. We were all competitive types.
So who is the "Godfather" of mountain biking?
A lot of people were involved.
Were these people called Breeze, Fisher and Kelly?
Yes, maybe it was the three of us. Specialized then took the sport to the next level with series production.
Breeze grins when he talks about Fisher. He has no desire for recognition, while Gary Fisher seeks the light of the headlights and lets himself be celebrated. The fact is: Joe Breeze designed the first two-wheeler worthy of the name "mountain bike" in 1977. The first Breezer bikes were characterised by the twin reinforcement strut running right through the frame. He built ten of them, the light blue number one is now kept by the US National Museum of History, the number six he rolls out of a niche in his workshop and shows me the details. It is polished to a shine, with powerful Magura brake levers, a Suntour rear derailleur and slim TA triple cranks. The brown leather saddle has the patina of several decades. You could go straight to the repack in jeans and a shirt. While Breeze broods over the improvement of his bikes, Gary Fisher has a nose for business: "Fisher invited frame builder Tom Ritchey to the Repack in 1979 and commissioned 25 bikes. He then sold them out of the boot of his BMW 2002". Kelly and Fisher set up a company, called it "Mountainbikes" and tried to protect the name, but failed due to a lack of legal expertise. In September 1979, they opened the world's first pure bike shop. "The two of them took the bull by the horns. People from Florida and Chicago came to them to buy a bike," says Breeze, and a certain recognition resonates in his voice.
Joe Breeze is still fast on his mountain bike
We grab two of his new developments, 29er fullys with aluminium frames and 120 mm travel, and set off on the classic tour at Camp Tamarancho. Ever since the Breezer brand was integrated into the Advanced Sports International group, mountain bikes have been very popular again. It hasn't rained in California for eight months. Now it has been pouring for three days. Joe Breeze is still fast. He politely lets me pass uphill, huffing and puffing, but I barely have a chance of following him downhill. Breeze has won ten of the 25 repack races. He knows every pebble, every blind bend and masters the course even in a thunderstorm. "I like going downhill fast," he grins, happy to see me freezing in California, the land where it never rains.
BIKE: Is the "mountain biking" lifestyle still the same despite the abundance of technology with wheel sizes, suspension travel and bike categories?
Joe Breeze: We used to ride mainly for fun and not for the bikes. We rode bikes to be with friends, sometimes for nights on end. With the first races, the idea of competition and the technology, the social component certainly became less important. That's why I welcome the enduro trend. Enduro sounds like the fun we used to have.
Has sport become too complicated? Has technology replaced lifestyle?
Well, the sport has plenty of room for every kind. Also for the social part and the technical part. Everyone can practise the sport however they want.
What are the biggest changes compared to the past?
The suspension has certainly had the greatest influence on the sport. Suspension enables a completely different driving style and opens up a wider terrain.
How big is the influence of the different impeller sizes?
In my opinion, if 29 inches hadn't come along, we would still have fun with 26 inches.
Does this also apply to 27.5 inches?
Yes, it's the same thing. Of course, bigger wheels have certain advantages, but the sport doesn't stand or fall on them. However, whenever there is room for improvement, we take advantage of it (laughs).
Are e-mountain bikes the future?
Well, I recently asked myself the same question and came to the conclusion: no! Of course I'm slower uphill than I used to be, I'm 60 years old. Maybe I need to get older first. If you consider the consequences for trail use and also the speed of such bikes on trails - that could cause problems. Motorbikes are banned off-road here. Where do you draw the line between what is still a bike and what is a motorised vehicle?
Do you think e-bikes are good in and of themselves?
For myself: no. Not until I'm older, maybe (laughs).
Are e-bikes a threat to sport as we know it?
That could be, yes.
And then we ride down the Repack route: a wide forest road, finely gravelled, but not the kind of road that scares you with modern equipment. However, when the surface is dust-dry, the sloping bends turn into nasty traps when braking. Even more so with tyres with a Lego rubber compound. But today, the wet conditions provide good grip. The track is intoxicatingly unspectacular - rather a disappointment. The finish of the repack, a huge boulder, is just a few hundred metres from Joe's house. Meadow Way 18 smells of biscuits. His wife Conny has baked chocolate biscuits and is pouring black coffee from a cardboard box with a filler spout. Breeze didn't get his driving licence until he was 26. He smiles: "The bike is king of the road."
BIKE: Where is mobility heading?
Joe Breeze: Cycling is the greatest way to get you where you want to go. It saves time and keeps you healthy at the same time. Cycling is not an add-on to life, it's a great way to integrate it into your life. I sold my Saab 900 Turbo in 2006.
Between 1998 and 2008, you made a strong commitment to cycling in the USA, focussing on the development of transport bikes. Why did you do this?
People thought I had lost my mind, they didn't understand my motivation. I wanted to bring cycling closer to people. Fortunately, I had a father who was already cycling to work back then, so I had good access. Cycling was part of my everyday life and not just a hobby. Most people in the USA don't realise what you can do with a bike. I told them that bicycles already existed in the nineteenth century, that they have a history and are not just toys. I wanted to show that bicycles can be used like cars - but in a much healthier way.
Have you achieved what you wanted?
Yes! With my company, I focussed entirely on transport bikes with pannier racks, lights and mudguards and hoped to infect the bicycle industry with them. And it worked.
What will the mountain bike look like in ten years?
It's an e-bike (laughs) - no, that was a joke!
Do you have a vision?
I am always open to improvements. But it's impossible to say what will happen in ten years' time. I could imagine that drives will be further developed, such as centrally mounted gearboxes.
Can you imagine that there will be a trend back to the roots, minimal technology, unsprung, like in the old days?
Oh, why is that? Sure, there are always retro movements. But I don't see the point. I rode the singlespeed world championships in Berlin in 2004 and spent the whole time looking for the gear lever. I love gears, suspension and innovation, maybe a bike doesn't need to be as complex as it is, but I don't see a way back.
We drive into the centre of Fairfax to a flat industrial building. Inside is a building site, workmen are hammering and sanding, it smells of freshly sawn wood. The Mountain Bike Hall of Fame will open here in April. Joe Breeze and Otis Guy have campaigned for the Hall of Fame to relocate from Crested Butte to Fairfax. A museum worthy of the name is being built on 1000 square metres. The two not only want to preserve the good old days and give collectors space to exhibit their gems, but also make the history of the bicycle tangible for visitors. The circle is complete. The mountain bike is coming home. Breeze's dream is about to be realised.
BIKE: How does it feel to be the inventor of the mountain bike?
Joe Breeze laughs out loud: Before the first mountain bike, I made racing bike frames. I thought I was going to make them for the rest of my life and keep my head above water. You know, money doesn't mean much to me, I'm more interested in making people enjoy cycling.
Don't you wake up in the morning and think: Hey, I've done great things?
(Laughs again) No!
Aren't you proud of it?
Well, sometimes, but not every morning. I do think about how great it is what my friends and I have set in motion. I'm happy about it, but there's a lot more you can do.
Have you become rich with bikes?
Life has been so good to me that I can make a living from it. I'm happy about that.
What if Fisher and Kelly had been able to patent the name "mountain bike"?
You stumble across a lot of "what ifs" in life. I suspect their frames would have said "Mountainbike" and not "Fisher". We would have called these bikes something else - All Terrain Bike, ATB, presumably and not mountain bike. Fortunately, everything turned out differently, because mountain bike is the right name.
Is sport on the right track?
There is no right way. There is the natural way. I'm happy about developments like Enduro, where you can put the saddle down, which was frowned upon in the dark ages of racing from 1991 onwards. It looks like the fun factor is increasing again, and that's a good thing!
