Originally Posted by
texaspandj
...My theory is the Masters made in one factory and the Experts in another factory. Reportedly Miyata, panasonic etc were made at the same factory....
I have been collecting Centurion serial numbers for over a decade and have well over one hundred documented samples of the Ironman variants alone. All the Experts and Masters I've seen have used the same serial number format, indicating that they come from the same factory. The only Ironmen models I've seen that were manufactured by different sources are some first year Ironman and the Ironman Carbon.
Regarding the relationship between Miyata and M-a-t-s-u-s-h-i-t-a (the manufacturer of the Panasonic brand bicycles), the latter was the largest shareholder of Miyata stock for almost fifty years but both companies maintained independent manufacturing facilities.