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EB17: Breezer Doppler Pro steel 650B touring bike doubles as Cafe city commuter

2018 Breezer Doppler Pro 650B steel touring road bike with disc brakes
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The new Breezer Doppler is a butted chromoly steel touring bike that’s built around 650B wheels, with a little more traditional geometry than the slacker Radar, but not as steep as a pure road bike. Joe Breeze wanted something classic, but that would handle really well even when fully loaded.

2018 Breezer Doppler Pro 650B steel touring road bike with full fenders

Max tire up to 650B x 50 with the fender, or a 2.1 MTB tire without fenders.

2018 Breezer Doppler Pro 650B steel touring road bike with full fenders

The frame has rack and fender mounts integrated into the design, and it comes stuck with full coverage chrome fenders.

2018 Breezer Doppler Pro 650B steel touring road bike with full fenders

It has thru axles front and rear, and the fork sits inside a 44mm head tube. This Doppler Pro comes with a 1-1/8″ straight steerer steel fork, but there’s a tapered carbon fork on higher end Doppler Team…possible with that head tube style and various lower BB cups.

2018 Breezer Doppler Pro 650B steel touring road bike with disc brakes

It comes with a Shimano Tiagra 2×10 group with mechanical levers leading to TRP HyRD hydraulic disc brake calipers.

2018 Breezer Doppler Pro 650B steel touring road bike with disc brakes

Finishing touches include a recycled PET handlebar wrap that feels like fabric, but is waterproof and will last longer…and the saddle is color matched, and both match the tires’ tan sidewalls. It’s a sweet little package, made even better by the low $1,199 / €1,399 retail price. The team model with upgraded spec and carbon fork will run $1,999.

2018 Breezer Doppler Cafe city commuter bicycle with disc brakes and full coverage fenders

For pure city riding, the Doppler Cafe swaps in a metro-style swept flat bar and cork grips, a SRAM Apex 1×11 group and fully hydraulic disc brake calipers.

2018 Breezer Doppler Cafe city commuter bicycle with disc brakes and full coverage fenders

2018 Breezer Doppler Cafe city commuter bicycle with disc brakes and full coverage fenders

For $1,099 / €TBD, you still get full coverage fenders, and a bump to WTB tires and wheels.

BreezerBikes.com

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Evan
6 years ago

These look like the same frames being sold as Motobecane.

velothree
velothree
6 years ago
Reply to  Evan

Motobecane doesn’t even have any steel bikes in this style frame?

pinko
pinko
6 years ago
Reply to  Evan

You need a bigger screen or glasses.

JBikes
JBikes
6 years ago

Obviously WTB Horizon’s are all the marketing rage right now, but anyone comment on their puncture resistance for actual dedicated touring/commuter use?

lop
lop
6 years ago
Reply to  JBikes

Happy to! I bought one of the first pairs that WTB shipped out, before they were even in stock at QBP, and they have been great. It was one of the easiest tubeless installs I’ve ever done, with two passes of Scotch strapping tape in WTB KOM rims and a floor pump to seat them. I experienced one flat over ~5000 miles, when a piece of steel went in one side of the tire and out the other (the kind of thing that would have flatted a Schwalbe Marathon). I put a tube in and rode home, then reinstalled fresh sealant was riding them again the next afternoon. I rode them probably 5000 miles, entirely tubeless (sans the one flat), and replaced them with another pair of Horizons last month. Honestly, they’re not even THAT worn, but I figured it would be prudent to replace the pair, and then I could use my old front as a spare in case something happened on my upcoming tour.

My biggest complaint might actually be that they are TOO heavy duty. If the center tread were a thinner, then they would wear a little faster, but would presumably gain some speed and ride quality, and this is a trade-off I would happily accept. Still, they roll reasonably well, partially due to the cut in the center tread that lets the tire deflect a little more over bumps and such.

The new batch I got from WTB are definitely different than the first. They are noticeably skinnier (true 47mm down to 44mm), which might be a concession to OEMs, and the color is different (no big deal). Still though, a great tire. Next time, I’ll probably spring for the Compass, now that they have an actual tubeless-compatible bead, because as I stated earlier, I am definitely willing to trade some long-term durability for a increased comfort and speed.

Volsung
Volsung
6 years ago
Reply to  lop

I had a Compass blow up in my face at low PSI resulting in a trip to urgent care and permanent hearing loss. Another blue off the rim when I wasn’t anywhere near the bike and it was just sitting in the garage, so I’m done with their corner-cutting tubelessness.

Fortunately, GravelKing slicks come in a 650b x 48! They’re probably everything you’re looking for and available in black or brown walls depending on what your jam is.

lop
lop
6 years ago
Reply to  Volsung

Compass is now shipping tubeless-ready tires which utilize the same bead as the GravelKing (since both are Panaracer tires).

Volsung
Volsung
6 years ago
Reply to  lop

It claims to be, but the 4 Snoqualmies I went through say otherwise. They were all super loose on different rims and had various manufacturing defects.

Soma’s new tubeless ready Supple Vitesses have a much tighter bead.

gringo
gringo
6 years ago
Reply to  Volsung

Bummer that you have some hearing issues after that, but I’d wager to say it’s not entirely the fault of the tire. You may want to try them on a different rim perhaps. Tolerance stack up can be a tricky thing and it sometimes results in what you experienced.

Champs
Champs
6 years ago

A modest proposal for all new touring/commuting bikes: kill the wobbly fender tab.

Up front, direct mount fenders are as simple as a daruma in the steerer. If you don’t know what that is, check out the Velo Orange blog.

Out back, rotate the seatstay bridge through hole by 90° so the fender can be installed like a caliper brake. If you don’t know what a caliper brake is, that’s because you leave vestiges of them in the frame but haven’t used them in a component spec for decades.

Thanks in advance.

Shafty
Shafty
6 years ago
Reply to  Champs

We’ve got a fender elitist over here! Whew! A part from Japan? That sounds exotic, it must be good!

There’s a reason fenders aren’t mounted as you describe very often. It’s not a time saver, the benefits are negligible, and you lose the simple adjustability that’s become ubiquitous. Fancy custom bikes get Berthoud or Honjo anyways.

Bl
Bl
6 years ago

Why hydraulic?
Is spyke/spyre enough?

Dolan Halbrook
Dolan Halbrook
6 years ago

Man, this is pretty much exactly what I was about to build up, with only a dynohub missing.

onrhodes
6 years ago

I like it. If it had the 3-pack bosses on the fork I’d sell my Marrakesh in a second.

James Gross
James Gross
6 years ago
Reply to  onrhodes

But the Marrakesh is pretty sweet……

Andy Pandy
Andy Pandy
6 years ago

Beautiful and affordable bike. I’m happy to see they didn’t follow the herd and go 1x.

S
S
6 years ago
Reply to  Andy Pandy

Agree, nice bike at a sensible price. I like the generous tire clearance

typevertigo
typevertigo
6 years ago
Reply to  Andy Pandy

The City version is 1x.

typevertigo
typevertigo
6 years ago
Reply to  typevertigo

Cafe, rather

gringo
gringo
6 years ago

Who uses Phillips head hardware to mount fenders??!

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