Well, I've had two Centurions, and still have one of them.

The one I still have appears to be (based on dates stamped on components) a 1978 Professional. Tange Champion Butted Tubes sticker on seat tube, vertical "Centurion" headbadge, Centurion decal on downtube, Professional on top tube. Lugs are copies of Cinelli lugs of the era... long point with circular cutouts, and a fully sloping fork crown. Seat cluster is also like Cinelli fastback, and bottom bracket has a sort of "flower" cutout in it. Components are a Sugino Mighty Victory crankset, SunTour Cyclone derailleurs, and GranCompe sidepull brakes, with barrel adjusters on both the caliper and the lever. Brakes are the original GC sidepull with the simpler quick release, not the variable one like Campy and later GC. Bars and stem were some flavor of SR Royal, the stem with an oval slot in the face and the bars with the small round cutouts on the sleeve. Seat post is SR copy of Campy NR. All SR parts have the old eagle logo. Hubs are Sanshin ProAm, with Mavic Module E rims (the one thing I'm almost certain is NOT original). Frame is chromed throughout, and painted metallic orange (pretty!) over that. Serial number is M7070019. Pics are at: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frickercycle/my_photos.

The Centurion I sold a while back was only a frameset when I got it. A SemiPro, probably from the mid-80s. I don't recall exactly what the tubing sticker said, but the serial number was M0D18273. It was a sort of pale, pearlescent yellow with chrome under the paint again, and brown lettering and some striping in brown as well. Later round headbadge, and different lugs and a semi-sloping fork crown. Pretty, but not as pretty as the Pro. I built it up as a fixed gear, but sold it after a short while. I kind of regret selling it now, but in the process I ended up with another bike that was a little more valuable and collectible.

Tim Fricker