The serial indicates an 88 manufacture, as does the red white fade paint scheme. (My favorite of them all.) Nice bike you have there.

Lord help me! I bought a pink bike!

Centurion Iron Man Expert

SN: N7A6245

I believe that makes it an '87 ?

The bike is brand new at 26 years old!

No real wear to be seen on any of the components, I would be surprised if it had 100 miles on it.

I guess none of the previous owners had the nerve to ride it in public.

Nice bike, it's my size too

Looks familiar...

Looks good... I like the STI conversion.

I forgot how narrow these older bars are! And how fun downtube shifters can be

Just came down from the Rafters where it has sat since the year after purchase (I was told). Has some dust and surface rust on the headset, otherwise very nice. Suntour Cyclone shifters and derailluers, 27" Araya rims with Suzue Hubs, Sugino Cranks. Tange 2 serial# NSK5532. 1985???

Smoothie. I had one like it, thought it was an '84, could be wrong.
Nice water bottle, I'll bet it's fairly brittle.

Thanks Robbie. The bottle isn't that bad, however I would not drink from it.

I'm assuming the serial number is actually N5K5532, as opposed to NSK5532, which would make it a 1985 model.

T-Mar, you are correct once again. Thanks for the info and your knowledge.

*cough* https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post15673773

Hello I just bought a centurion le mans and I have no idea what year it is. The only stamping I found after starting the restore is A903. Everything on the bike is Sun Tour the derailer is a sun tour V GT luxe. Anyone have a guess as to what year it is? It was painted yellow with full black decals. (Not my photo but exact same bike)

Probably mid- to late-1970's, based on the graphics and paint. I thought they were especially classy during this era.

that's a killer build.

That's not the poster's bicycle, only a picture of a similar one.

Kylesoule, welcome to the forums! It's one of the early Raleigh Grand Prix clones, probably boom era or shortly thereafter. Unfortunately we have not decrypted those early serial numbers. However, you may be able to help if you're willing to do a component date code search on your LeMans. There should definitely be date codes on the back of both SunTour derailleurs. There may be date codes on the Takagi/Shimano crankarms. There should be a code of the SR handlebar stem, below the insertion mark. There should be codes on the Dia-Compe brake calipers and levers. Use the attached link for locating, identifying and decrypting the codes of the various brands. https://www.vintage-trek.com/component_dates.htm

Thank you guys for the quick response, Ill check out the components today and post ASAP. Ill take another once my bike is painted i have a few more hours of sanding for the restore. Does anyone know a good place for those decals? Mine aren't in terrible shape and I'm going to restore them but in case I can't I'd love another route.

Ok so my dérailleur is stamped QB which according to your link says its 1974 made in February.

I'd appreciate it if you could check out some more date codes. It's probably original, but sometimes you run into the situation where the rear derailleur has been replaced by the same model. The more date codes we have, the higher our confidence in the model year of the bicycle.

stem reads 5355 74, 3 and 2220. Hope these mean something to someone.

Here are the photos I've taken or stamps I've found thus far. This is the photo of the stamp on the Derailleur.

not sure why these turned out so small the numbers read 4532 and has PJ Stamped on it.

OK, we've got Oct 1973, February 1974 and March 1974. That means it's probably a 1974 model. Thxs.

Thank you very much, I hope the info helps decrypt some more bikes! Ill post a photo once my restore is complete.

Actually I have an additional question: what size is my centurion expert? I measured the top tube to be 555mm. Does that mean this bike is a 56cm? I thought it was a 54cm but my other bikes has 545-548 top tube.

Most manufacturers determine frame size based on the seat tube. For a model with a traditional, horizontal top tube there are two methods. First, is the length measured along the centerline of the seat tube, from the center of the BB shell to the intersection with the centerline of the top ube. This is commonly refered to as center-to-center (ctc). The other method is the same except that it measures to the top of the seat tube and is commonly refered to as center-to-top (ctt). I beleive that Centurion used the latter method. During this period Centurion offered 46, 53, 56, 59 and 63cm frames. Based on the top tube measurement, it sounds like you have a 56cm.