centurion bike

texashoney07

a friend just moved off of campus and could not take his bike so he gave it to me. i know NOTHING about bikes other than how to ride them, the bike is an Orange and Black "Centurion" i am curious to know what kind of model it is and if it has a value. here is a picture... thanX vicky

kdelong

Centurion was a nice bicycle in the 1980s. What you have appears to be an early Centurion from the early 1970s. That being said, it probably has a high tensile steel frame and the components appear to be low end Shimano of that era. It is probably worth $35 - $40 given its age and condition. But hey, its transportation and that can be pretty valuable in a college town. There is more information concerning Centurions in the following link. Happy pedalling .

http://sheldonbrown.com/centurion/index.html

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texashoney07

thanX i just wanted to make sure i could lock it up out side the dorms and not worry too much about it getting stolen if its value is so low. by any chance have any idea what kind of model it is? after reading about the Centurion it sounds like a LeMANs but i don't know.

kdelong

I'm not an expert on Centurion but it looks pretty much like an early LeMans to me. The odd thing is that the model name is not on the top tube, therefore, it may even pre-date Centurion having more than one model of bike to market. If this is the case, it may be worth up to $120 as a collectors item.

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RelevantAaron

Wow, when I was 14 I remember saving for my first "real" bike - a yellow Centurion Lemans! That was 1974 and I did my first century on it if I recall correctly.

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p38lightning

I had a Centurian very much like what I see in the picture, although yours appears to be a few years older. I doubt that it is a LeMans since that was a mid line model. Yours (like mine) has the 3 piece cotter pin steel crank, center pull brakes, stem shifters, what appear to be steel hubs, and I'll bet has Suntour deraillers. This adds up to a bottom of the line(or near that) model. The mid line and higher had alloy cranks and hubs. It isn't worth much in terms of sale, but is a good solid transpo bike, and one that you probably won't need to worry about being stolen in the rack outside your dorm. Bike thieves know the good stuff, and if not at least the new stuff!

kdelong

What year was your LeMans? I remember high end bikes that had cottered cranks all the way into the early 1970's. It was after that you started to see the high end getting the alloy bits.

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p38lightning

I'm not sure which model I had but don't think that it was a LeMans. The year was about 1980 or 81. The frame only said CroMoly tubing nothing about Tange or any other higher end stuff. I remember paying $105 new at Fairwheels bikes near the University of AZ. This is still the leading bike shop in Tucson. That day they had bikes with Sugino alloy cranks and alloy hubs (same frame, I asked) for $135. But I don't remember any model designations.

texashoney07

yeah after everyone has seen me on it they have made fun of me on such an "Old School" bike so i guess i don't have to worry about it getting stolen. lol thanX for all ur help