VintageTTfan

Wow that is a utterly rare tandem! That is the German Centurion Tandem I believe???
How in the heck did you manage to get that?!?
If you don't mind telling me how much did it cost?
I have only seen it in a vintage German Centurion catalog online (unless I am mistaken in a big way).
Cool.

TXsailor

Its not German its Japanese. Made by the same company that made the bikes in the movie ET. It was a gift from a friend. I don't know how rare it is but its pretty cool.

TXsailor

Daughter? Granddaughter? Kudos to you for getting her on a bike double for a cool bike that's different from the norm.

VintageTTfan

I thought it was this one sorry.

texaspandj

^^^ That's pretty cool. And I think it's the same bike . Paint is a little different but way, way more similarities.

@fleslider do you have any Centurion brochures in german?

texaspandj

Do you have that brochure? If so, what year is it and could you post more pics from it?

VintageTTfan

Here are some pictures from catalogs:

It will be good to show some vintage German Centurion stuff, not that I am not totally in love with American Centurions which I have been collecting for about 6 years




. My knowledge is okay but Robbie Tunes is the Professor.

VintageTTfan

And.............

texaspandj

WOW!, that's definitely 80's Cool.
I'd take the "Professional". Check out the chrome forks and stays @markwesti.

VintageTTfan

Thanks.......
Yeah some of these German models are pretty nice. I have never seen them for sale in the States. Maybe someone else has for sure. I wonder how rare they are in Germany yah know. My favorites are probably the Expert Triathlon, the Professional, and the Carbon.

Vintage_Cyclist

FYI, there's a NOS Turbo TT frame, minus the 650C fork, that's been on eBay for a few months, from a seller in Greece. Someone here grabbed one of these, it should be appearing on this thread in the not too distant future.

VintageTTfan

Also, I bought one from the guy in Greece and I have a friend who bought two of them. The one that is up there now has been there for a long time. The guy in Greece thinks they came from a shutdown factory. He says his memory is cloudy though.

VintageTTfan

The biggest pain in the butt is that the guy from Greece never had the forks to go with the frames! And these forks are bloody hard to get ....it is easier to find the whole frame with fork than the fork alone. The fork by itself I have NEVER seen for sale so is rare as hen's teeth. You have to use a vintage time trial fork from another brand and those can be pricey. Then you have to paint it ...unless you got a white one of chrome. It's a conundrum. The last year has been good for those that want this bike but I still think it is very rare. I would imagine no more than 150 frames and 100 is more likely. Not the easiest bicycle to collect.

VintageTTfan

And I am totally certain that these are not fakes or counterfeits. They are not known enough or sought after enough to be counterfeited. I could see a Colnago or a Masi etc being faked. These are too obscure and only fanatics care. And no one is paying big money for these. So therefore no incentive to make fakes. Also they have the look and feel of authenticity. My bicycle mechanic and his son adore this frame and they are vintage experts ...he is elderly guy who owned a bike shop for years and he loves steel bikes. As some one said on this forum, wisely, "Who is going to make such a strange bike with all of it's quirks and decals and particularities for a bike that hardly anyone knows exists. Finally, (thank goodness) to put the nail in the coffin of my argument, Centurion was not a prestige enough name back in the day even to have made counterfeits. So what we have here is a mystery. I have made some forays into investigation and when and if I get more pieces of the puzzle I will let you guys know if anyone cares. Oh well, such is the life of one who loves the obscure.

texaspandj

There's enough bike geeks on this thread alone who want to know.
The thing that intrigues me is the fender eyelets in a TT bike although I know several who have theories @canklecat.
Or the odd slanted top tube could be as tmar suggested , something about manufacturing one size fits all sizing.

TXsailor

Wow it does look similar. I wonder if they were made by Kuwahara and sold under the Centurion name in Germany? Ours came with down tube shifters but was converted to brifters before we got it.

chico81 

It isn’t mine, but thought I’d share the link. Looks to be in decent shape. Missing original saddle, but should clean up nicely! If I were closer I would have probably already contacted the seller...

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/...973138524.html

markwesti

Had a little trouble sleeping last night .

texaspandj

Bahaha, good one Mr. Westi.

Classtime 

OK! Who got that 58cm Red '89? AND what are you guys doing up at 3:30 in the morning?

p.s. Thanks for saving me the drive and the hassle of explaining a red bike.
p.p.s. Second thought: no one knows that I sold my repainted red PX-10! I could have pulled it off.

markwesti

For the rekord , the Greek says 120mm spacing on the rear triangle . Others have told me 126mm . Anyone have a 120mm ?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/CENTURION-T...cce4%7Ciid%3A1

rccardr 

That's gotta be 126. Interesting vertical dropouts.

Bonus: chain hanger and fender eyelets!

RobbieTunes

Same chain ring on mine, but I'm going black on the wheels, FD, RD, with DA 10-sp DT shifters. Still need to get the fork painted. I think I'm going white on that.

VintageTTfan

Sounds killer. What brand of fork did you end up using and where were you able to grab it? It will be interesting to see white.

Quick Centurion question on the side (since you are the Doctor of Centurionology so to speak): Have you ever owned or seen in person a Centurion TRAC? How rare are these? I find it fascinating that Centurion made a bicycle for the Velodrome. What do you think of that bike? Wondering if anyone has seen one for sale ever. Thanks.

Rocket-Sauce 

Can I play with this one? My daily driver while in Austria last month. This thing was an absolute tank. Must weigh 50+ pounds.