In 1976, long after the Roman centurions left Germania, a Centurion brand name bicycle began to be marketed in Germany. Part of Western States Imports?
There is an interesting discussion of the Centurion brand name outside of the USA in this 2016 thread:
Centurion Futura Equipe??
Member @
Vintage_Cyclist was encouraged to write to the German company and ask about their relationship to Western States Imports. He did so. The German company replied:
Originally Posted by
Vintage_Cyclist
There's obviously some murkiness to the whole Centurion backstory, further complicated by multiple companies using the name.
I don't have the links saved, but quite some time ago, while trying to research the company, I came across old trade-mark records, registered to H. Tano Company, for the Centurion bicycle brand in both Canada and Australia.
Earlier this year, prompted by a post on this forum, I wrote to the still-existing German Centurion company to inquire if there were any connection between them and WSI. Their response:
Quote:
I just talked with the founder of our German Centurion company, Wolfgang Renner. He founded the German Centurion company in 1976 and rather than building bicycles he started by importing them from Japan. The Japanese company was Tano, and it held the rights to the Centurion brand name.
WSI also imported the same bicycles from Tano in a certain period, hence the very similar models from the US and Germany in that era. There were no connections between us and WSI though. What we shared with them was the trading company for the bikes. Today Tano is not in existence anymore, and the rights for the name Centurion were transferred to us. Today's Centurion models however are completely developed by us and not just imported.
Maybe you can have this Wikipedia-entry about our company translated into English:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centur...rradhersteller %29 It gives you quite a bit of insight about how the German Centurion brand developed.
Best regards to NYC,
Tristan Zerdick
Marketing Assistant
MERIDA & CENTURION Germany GmbH
I don't know if this is entirely accurate, given it's the reported recollection of events from 30-40 years ago, but it is an interesting angle to consider in the Centurion saga.
Tristan Zerdick, the responder from Centurion Germany, in a paragraph talking about Tano, says that their company and WSI shared the same trading company for the bicycles.
Not manufacturer, but trading company. The responder never says that Tano manufactured bicycles.
This response could be considered verification of what kind of a company H. Tano and Company were: a trading company.
None of the participants in that thread recognized the statement "same trading company".
One of the participants in this thread once says that Tano is a manufacturer and on a second occasion says "Tano builder" and neither saying that the information is unverified.
There is a second correspondence in this thread from the same Tristan Zerdick to an inquiry from member @
artclone. Tristan Zerdick says:
" The German and American Centurion bikes were – up to a certain time – ordered from the same manufacturer in Japan".
Unfortunately for us, the name of the manufacturer in Japan is not mentioned.
Thanks to member Vintage_Cyclist and member artclone and for sharing their questions and responses. Also thanks to Tristan Zerdick in Germany.