Originally Posted by crad159

a few things i want to note:

- i noticed sakae randnner's name on the handlebars, could this be the centurion lemans sakae randnner edition?

there is no such model. Sakae randnner is simply the name of the brand and model of handlebars that centurion installed

- the very last photo is of the serial number, n1g0561. anyone know how to read this serial number and put it to a date of manufacture, etc.?

your bike was made in 1981 per forum member t-mar's database:

1980-1990 japanese models:

Japanese models during this period use a serial number format wxyzzzz where;

w = a letter, purpose uncertain, but probably indicates manufacturer or centurion
x = a number, indicating the calendar year of manufacture
y = a letter, indicating the fortnight of manufacture (a = wk 1 & 2, b = wk 3 & 4, etc)
zzzz = four digit number, probably indicating frame number during fortnight

example: N4e0283 indicates the 283 frame manufactured during the period of weeks 9-10, for the year 1984.


- because i am not familiar with centurions, is this the original seat that came with the lemans model? ..

based on the 1979 centurion catalog, i believe you have the oem saddle on your bike.

Here is a link to the velobase page. Scroll down a bit and you will see a link to a pdf of the 1979 catalog.