BF Goodrich's threatened legal action and Dave Scott's endorsement pretty much came together to cement the name. Scott was an icon of the beginning triathlon trend, and the Ironman became pretty much an iconic bike. Centurion's folks envisioned a training/racing bike, affordable and with excellent stuff for the price point.

Alan Goldsmith, a long-time influence in American cycling for 50 years, had a hand in the design of later Ironman models. Dave Scott had a hand in specifying them, as well.

The Ironman created sales in other models of the Centurion line-up, just by getting folks in the door and then being a bit more expensive than some could afford. The Lemans/Lemans RS and the Elite RS benefited from this situation, to the point where the Lemans/Lemans RS was a sales leader for Centurion.

The rumored geometry change in 1989 was sparked by Centurion telling a bike magazine that it had occurred, but then not producing the numbers. The only evidence is that magazine article and anecdotal evidence.

The unicrown fork was probably Tange Prestige, for the convenience of the manufacturing facility.

The Panaracer Technova/Technova II tires were so hard that the test bikes for magazines often had wheels that went out of true after each hard ride. This resulted in some testers criticizing the light Araya CTL-370's as "too light," and others simply swapping tires and getting on with the praise.