Hummer

Let's see what we have so far.

For H. Tano and Company manufactured bicycles:

Lawrence M. Fisher article of the Korn Ferry Institute,
H.Tano and Company advertisements in 1951 and 1952 Japan's Bicycle Guide

For H. Tano and Company an export company:

Japan's Bicycle Guide List of Exporters Volume 2 (1952),
H.Tano and Company advertisements in Japan's Bicycle Guide 1956,
Tristan Zerdick of Centurion of Germany,
Howie Cohen in www.howiebikeman.com, Everything Bicycles,
the serial number record of the Centurion brand name of Western States Imports.



I can tell that some members in the vintage bicycle realm of bikeforms.net are still not convinced that H. Tano and Company were an export company.


Hmmmm, what can I do to convince you?

Ahhh, let's try this tack.

Here is a thread from member @mmcc73 in August of 2019.
Raleig Super Grand Prix Serial Number...

Raleigh Super Grand Prix serial number N0P1957.


Member T-Mar's reply to member mmcc73:

If I can show who made 1980-82 Raleigh USA bicycles from Japan, would you be convinced about H. Tano and Company?


Let's have a show of hands.


Hmmmm, only a few of you will be convinced.

Well, just for you few I will show this anyway. The rest of you can go to another thread.


"On September 24, 1982, petitions were filed with the United States International Trade Commission and
the U.S. Department of Commerce by counsel on behalf of AMF Wheel Goods Division,
Columbia Manufacturing Co., Huffy Corp., and Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company, individually,
and as members of the Bicycle Manufacturers Association, Inc.
The petitions allege that bicycles from the Republic of Korea (Korea) and Taiwan are being, or are likely
to be , sold in the United States at less than fair market value (LTFV)."

These are the opening lines of the Introduction to Section A: Information obtained in the investigation,
by the United States International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C. 20436.

Wait a minute! What does this have to do with Raleigh USA or H. Tano and Company?
Neither is a petitioner or from Korea or Taiwan.

The USITC wanted to understand a little bit about about bicycle manufacturing in the United states and retail pricing of bicycles before making a determination on the petitions. In order to do this the USITC sent out a questionnaire to lots of different companies in the business of manufacturing bicycles and retailing bicycles.
Two of the companies that responded were Schwinn and TI Raleigh(USA) Inc.

In the commissions findings it was noted that Schwinn and Raleigh(USA) where importing higher end bicycles from Japan. The petitioners to the commission were not concerned about higher end bicycles.

Anyhow, the commission named the Japanese manufacturers with whom Schwinn and Raleigh(USA) had made agreements.

Schwinn had made an agreement in 1972 with the largest bicycle manufacturer in Japan, Bridgestone Cycle.

The Determination and information obtained by the USITC in this matter were published twice.
First, in November 1982 "Bicycles from the Republic of Korea and Taiwan". USITC Publication 1311.
Second, in August 1983 "Bicycles from Taiwan". USITC Publication 1417.

Both versions of the USITC determination are found on Google Docs and are images of
documents from the Library of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


In the first version on page A-12, states: "National also makes top-of-the-line "Raleigh" brand."
In the second version on page A-12, states: "Matsushˇta also makes top-of-the-line, Raleigh brand."
Both versions note the TI Raleigh Industries, Ltd. U.S. subsidiary is no longer in business.

As an aside and an interesting twist: during the time that the commission was preparing its determination,
the right to use the Raleigh brand name in the USA was sold to one of the petitioners: Huffy Corporation.





Well, the 1980-82 Raleigh(USA) bicycles from Japan were made by Matsushˇta/National. The bicycles with the "N" serial number prefix.

Ergo, the "N" serial number bicycles from Centurion were made by Matsu****a/National, if you follow member T-Mar's reasoning as stated above.
The export company H. Tano and Company did not manufacture the Centurion bicycles with the "N" serial numbers, if you follow member T-Mar's reasoning as stated above.


The best description of H. Tano and Company's relationship with Western States Imports that I can come up with is as follows:
H. Tano and Company was an export company who arranged to get bicycles from one or more Japanese manufacturers,
brand them as Centurion, and delivered bicycles to Western States Imports.
This matches with what Howie Cohen and Tristan Zerdick said about H. Tano and Company.


Here is a link to Google Books for one of the United States International Trade Commission documents, I hope the correct document is displayed.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=Nas...page&q&f=false



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"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night."

Johnny Rotten on stage at the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, California 01/14/78