Recently, neighborhood bike shop Panther City Bicycles gave me the chance to check out the newest addition to the Breezer Bicycles line: the Finesse. I’m a big fan of Breezer’s city bike line, because they’re one of the few brands of bikes in America that come from the factory with most everything needed to make functional, practical urban transportation – racks, fenders, lights, chain cases, comfortable upright seating position, etc. The Breezer line also includes folding bikes and longer-distance, more performance-oriented commuter “range” bikes, and the Finesse is the top-of-the-line model in that lineup.

The Finesse is equipped similarly to the Breezer line of city bikes, with a rear rack, full fenders, integrated lighting system, and internally-geared Shimano rear hub. As it’s optimized for longer distances and higher-speed commuting versus the city bike line’s shorter commutes/errands/etc. uses, the Finesse is a little more aggressive in seating position, and features dual-position handlebars allowing riders to tuck down low for more performance on a longer commute. It’s a more specialized bike than the more versatile city bike line.

The Finesse is the top of the range bike line, and as such it features a list of high-end features. It uses the Shimano Alfine group, which includes front-and-rear disc brakes, single crank, front dynamo hub, and 8-speed internally geared rear hub with RapidFire paddle shifter (for contrast, the city bike line uses the Shimano Redline internally geared hub with a twist shifter). Like the Breezer city bikes, the frame is aluminum, but the Finesse uses a carbon fiber front fork and seat post for further weight reduction.

The rear rack of the Finesse is a bit simpler than that of the city bike line, lacking the spring-loaded clip and using a lighter, smaller frame.

The Finesse is definitely a different sort of bike than the Breezer city bike I’m used to (the Fort Worthology bike is a Breezer Uptown 8, Breezer’s flagship city bike model). With its carbon components and skinnier tires, the Finesse feels more taut and aggressive than the city bikes. While the Uptown isn’t that slow (unless you’re of the spandex & paper-thin-tires mind), the Finesse is noticeably quicker. Once you’re up to speed, the Finesse is stable and sure-footed, sacrificing a bit of the city bike line’s lower-speed nimbleness and ease-of-use for a more performance-oriented feel.

Compared to the city bike line, the Finesse rides more stiffly (especially because of the carbon fork), but it’s not unpleasant at all. Harshness is well dampened. While the tires on the Finesse are skinnier than those of the city bike line, they’re not road-bike-skinny and still provide a more absorbing quality to the ride. It has the same sort of confidant, dialed-in feeling that the Breezer city bikes have in a faster, longer-distance sort of design.

The Finesse is not for everybody. It’s a specialized sort of bike, for those who have a longer commute and want to cover it quickly, but still want practicality more on the level of a city bike. I missed some of the features on my Uptown, such as the fully-enclosed chain case, rear rack spring clip, bigger tires, and the more upright seating position, so if you’re primarily riding around the urban core and on short commutes a city bike model would probably be more appropriate, such as Breezer’s Uptown, Villager, Citizen, and Freedom models. For those who have longer-distance needs, though, the Finesse is a beautiful bike that blends Breezer style and function into a bike that gets up and moves nicely and handles like a dream at speed. It’s a great piece of design. (There are also two models below the Finesse in the Breezer range bike lineup – the Liberty, and the Greenway.) The Finesse retails for $1,999, and the example we rode was on sale at Panther City for $1,499. Like most Breezers, it tends to track a little higher in price than some of its competition, but the price reflects the feature set, design, and attention to detail that Joe Breeze and company have long been famous for.