My second Centurion and first ever AL roadie.
Before that, I had been riding and maintaining the same Puch hi-ten 10-speed flat bar for 30 years. This excludes the hard-tail MTBs we've owned -- one of the reasons I was happy to rediscover skinny wheels and frames living in Brooklyn, but that's another story.
Got this off the local CL. The message only said it was a Centurion. A cursory check of yellow black centurions yielded some hits on an obscure aluminum model (probably posts and photos Robbie had posted). Everything about this bike, I've learned from a
4 year-old thread here in BF.
First things first: the aluminum frame.
It's softer than you'd expect. I've ridden AL frames on MTB and some of them are butt-busters. Anyway, with 25C tires and Selle Italia, it's not much worse than my chromo Raleigh. What I did notice was a huge difference in the lateral stiffness of the frame, especially when climbing. You can really feel it steering while powering uphill. More on the ride, weather permitting...
Here's what it looked like:
It was worse than I anticipated, an after-dark parking lot light deal, which I swear I will never do again. Some things that got lost in the fog of CL impulse buying compounded with double parking:
1. The rear wheel was a Roval Aerodynamique tubular with a totally shot rim, although nice hub and bladed spokes. Couldn't even ride it until I replaced it with a ano Mavic MA40 which vaguely matches the ano Wolber up front. Anyone need a vintage Roval?
2. The Nitto handlebar had gotten squashed by the aero arm rest clamps. Had to saw it off! Replaced it with an SR RChamp, virtually the same dimension. Ahhh, much better.
3. Lots of chipped paint hiding under black electrical tape which the seller claimed was to "catch oil". Fortunately, the color is a close match of Ford's "chrome yellow", yeah the same color as recent model Mustangs.
I also replaced the DiaCompe AGC with Shimano 105SC. The DCs are nice and classic, but those skinny hoods kill my hands. I think the puffy frame has found a nice match in the puffy Shimano brakes.
4. The seller insisted it had indexed shifting, and it did click, but the bike was setup so badly you couldn't tell what was going on. Turns out it's ALMOST a Suntour Accushift Plus setup, it has an AP chain, AP cog set and Superbe AP shifters but the rear Sprint derailleur is non-indexed. The regular Sprint RD will index up to about the 3rd cog before misaligning. I'm getting a Cyclone 7000 in the mail this week and we'll see if that works, albeit it will not be the later PLUS edition. One thing you notice about the Suntour AP is the lack of beveling on the gears and the chain, something having to do with Shimano's copyright at the time. I'm thinking an HG/SRAM chain should also help.
Here's a video of someone else's Cyclone indexing with non AP freewheel and Shimano chain - very promising.
5. I figured out how to repack sealed hub up front, but couldn't get them out in the rear hub. What's with these Nachis?
I think this bike is helping me get over aluminum phobia. In fact, it's piqued my interest in small diameter aluminum frames of the era. CV elegance, light and stiff? Works for me!