Originally Posted by swede
...As you know for sure, Centurionīs are still aviable in Scandinavia, i presume with Denmark as home base (but of course Asian made). Along with Nishiki they seem to have a good reputation for their hybrid and sport bikes, unfortually mostly alloy frames.
The "Centurion" name was never the actual name of a bike company. It was simply the name put on road bikes in the USA by the bike importer now known as "Diamondback". The importer "owned" the USA rights to the Centurion name, and purchased the bikes from a variety of sources in Japan. Of course, the importer never drew attention to the fact that there was no such thing as a "Centurion" bike factory.
The wide range of workmanship and quality between the very best frames that used the Centurion name, and the cheapest bikes using the Centurion name suggest that their top frames may have been made in a small "custom" shop that made frames by the hundreds. The cheapest frames look similar to frames that were being made by the millions in the era in the larger Japanese factories. What various Centurions sold in the USA had in common was not who built them, but the decal stuck on them by the importer.
If someone is using the name "Centurion" today in Europe, there is no reason to think that there is the slightest connection to the Centurion bikes sold in the USA during the '70's and '80's. And, it is doubtful any Centurion being sold in Europe today is built by a leading Japanese bike maker. Rivendell has some of its bikes built by a small "top quality" shop in Japan...the price is extremely high...about ten times higher than the cost of bikes made in the sweatshops in communist controlled portions of China.