# Buying a Centurion Super Elite Japanese Road Bike off CL. Would appreciate feedback.



## Wchristou1 (Jul 22, 2014)

I'm viewing an ad for an "90's Centurion Super Elite Japanese Rode Bike" off CL priced at $130. 

80's Centurion Super Elite Japanese Road Bike

I am 5'10" so it should be a size. I have read good things about this bike model on other forums, so I am a little bit excited. I would be using this bike to get around campus in college in the fall, as well as for leisure and exercise. 

Do these pictures indicate to you anything that would make it worth the price? I appreciate the help.


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Wchristou1 said:


> Do these pictures indicate to you anything that would make it worth the price?


Not really. The bikes's missing most of the front brake, the front brake cable and handlebar tape (you do get a front brake pivot bolt, wow!). The seller's claim that this bike would fit someone as short as 5'8" is absurd. Main problem: At 5'10", this bike is way too big for you. Pass.


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## CliffordK (Jun 6, 2014)

Uhhh.... Ohhh... you were 5'11" yesterday. How did you loose an inch overnight?

You're looking for something a little bigger than the Peugeot, and a little smaller than the Centurion. Although, you're probably close. Stand over height will be tight. I think my Colnago is only about an inch or so shorter than that bike (for 5'10"), but some might consider it too large too.

I can't tell if those are steel or aluminum rims, and whether you have front and rear quick releases. 

Anyway, expect that a bike like that should be given a full tune-up if you were to buy it.
The front tire looks low. 
The chain is not routed around the rear derailleur properly. 

Anyway, nothing that can't be fixed, but it will take some tinkering.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Don't do it. Same reasons as the Peugeot.

Centurions had a nice reputation but in case it wasn't clear enough in my previous post - if you're buying a bike to thrash to school/work and back and lock outside on occasion, try to stick with bikes that will be very easy to maintain. Part of that is contemporary standards.


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Just a general observation: I live and work part-time in a college town. Combining campus transportation, leisure and exercise in one bike doesn't work well in most cases. 

My suggestion is to first get a trashy but serviceable mountain-type bike from another student, Goodwill, police sale, etc. for under $50 and a huge lock for campus use. Then start networking shops, riders you see, bike clubs, what have you to find yourself a good leisure and exercise bike.


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## Wchristou1 (Jul 22, 2014)

CliffordK said:


> Uhhh.... Ohhh... you were 5'11" yesterday. How did you loose an inch overnight?


Sorry, that's a typo. I guess posting so late results in some mistakes.


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## Wchristou1 (Jul 22, 2014)

wim said:


> Just a general observation: I live and work part-time in a college town. Combining campus transportation, leisure and exercise in one bike doesn't work well in most cases.
> 
> My suggestion is to first get a trashy but serviceable mountain-type bike from another student, Goodwill, police sale, etc. for under $50 and a huge lock for campus use. Then start networking shops, riders you see, bike clubs, what have you to find yourself a good leisure and exercise bike.


That's probably a good suggestion. However, I'm pretty fixated on this road bike idea. Do you think having a price limit of $400 makes it impractical to buy a road bike?


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## Wchristou1 (Jul 22, 2014)

Ah okay, I thought that was said in direct reference to the Peugeot. Thanks so much for your help, you guys really have helped point me in the right direction.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

I think early-90s road bikes in acceptable shape and with a decent build start around $300. Depends on region, of course.

I don't know how big a problem theft and vandalism are on your campus. Some are really bad, and some are pretty much okay.

I rode really cheap commuters for a while because of those concerns. After moving to Seattle, I realized my COO was being driven by wear and maintenance, not damage due to vandalism or careless delivery guys. So I bought a later-model bike from a friend for $450 to replace the '80s Raleigh I'd finally broken irreparably. He gave me a nice deal, but it's also a higher-end bike than one needs for function, reliability and serviceability.

So yeah - for $300-$400, you can get a good bike. But I think you should still give wim's suggestion some thought. It'd be a shame to have something nicer get abused or stolen. Check out what other people are riding to campus. You don't want your bike to be the most expensive or worst locked on any given rack.


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Wchristou1 said:


> Do you think having a price limit of $400 makes it impractical to buy a road bike?


No, not at all. I just think that "campus transportation" and "enjoyable road bike" are difficult to combine in one bike. In fact. I'd go one step further and say that given the problems of theft and storage, it's just not a good idea.

As to networking: if you get to know people who are active in the cycling community, you may come away with a very nice road bike for not much money. Just as an example: a racer-friend of mine sold a 4-year old full-carbon frame and fork for $100. (He needed cash and his team was about to give him a new frame). The frugal buyer built the frame up with low-end, but functional components and and after it was all said an done, had himself a 21-pound (including pedals) carbon bike that's a joy to ride for about $500.


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## CliffordK (Jun 6, 2014)

AndrwSwitch said:


> Centurions had a nice reputation but in case it wasn't clear enough in my previous post - if you're buying a bike to thrash to school/work and back and lock outside on occasion, try to stick with bikes that will be very easy to maintain. Part of that is contemporary standards.


I disagree. 
The older bikes are just as easy to maintain as a new bike. Bearings and grease is just about the same.

Standards changed very slowly over the last half century, and there is a lot of older equipment out there. Especially with the internet. 

Many of the older standard parts are less than half the cost of new parts, even NOS parts. 

A good bike shop should carry tires for most "modern" standards, 700c, 27", and most of the more common 26" standards. Older 10 speed chains are perhaps $10 each. New 10/11 speed chains can be $30 to $40 or more. I buy the cheapest (stainless) brake and derailleur cables as I don't need to worry about things like teflon coated cables. Freewheel clusters are just about as common as the newer cassettes, and are still found on low end bikes (thus a supply of new relaxed gearing freewheels).

It is likely there will be more continuing support for old square taper cranks than the newer ISIS, Octalink, 24mm, and other very proprietary bottom brackets.

The one caveat is a few manufactures had "proprietary" standards. Raleigh apparently had some unique standards, but most of that was with the 3-speeds and steel crank bikes. The "newer" Raleighs should be just fine. Likewise, there may be some French bikes which are also unique. I'm having difficulties figuring out exactly which Peugeot bikes are affected. 

Friction shifting is pretty much bombproof and easy to upgrade. Indexed shifting can lock a person to a particular standard, and perhaps send a person scrambling to find used and NOS parts to maintain.

The big expenses come if one decides to try to upgrade the drivetrain of the 30 year old bike to "modern" standards such as a 11 speed cassette, shifters, brakes, and etc.

I've ridden a cheap 30+ lb beater in the past. It was a good solid bike, but I could certainly tell the difference between riding it, and riding my Colnago, especially when I would kick in the old generator lights.

I had my old Colnago on campus. Perhaps I'm lucky as part of the time overlapped with the period that the old Kryptonite locks had been hacked. But, I always kept the bike close at night.

$100 to $400 is a good range. Even so, one has to decide what end of the range one wants as there are some big differences in the less than $200 and more than $300 market.

You can do 10 or 20 mile rides with a $100 beater, but you'll be working a lot harder if you try to hang with a group of people riding the latest CF bikes.


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## CliffordK (Jun 6, 2014)

wim said:


> a racer-friend of mine sold a 4-year old full-carbon frame and fork for $100. (He needed cash and his team was about to give him a new frame). The frugal buyer built the frame up with low-end, but functional components and and after it was all said an done, had himself a 21-pound (including pedals) carbon bike that's a joy to ride for about $500.


I picked up a Kona King Zing classic Carbon frame off of Craigslist for $140. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to build the thing up, but I'll probably target the $500 or so range. One problem is most of my spares are old crap. One can spend a lot of money on component groups for a $140 frame.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

> Centurions had a nice reputation but in case it wasn't clear enough in my previous post - if you're buying a bike to thrash to school/work and back and lock outside on occasion, try to stick with bikes that will be very easy to maintain. Part of that is contemporary standards.





> I disagree.
> The older bikes are just as easy to maintain as a new bike. Bearings and grease is just about the same.


I agrtee with Clifford. You have to distinguish specific time periods and countries of origin. Older French bikes (up to late 80's) and Raleighs (up to early 90's) have some different stuff, and parts can be hard to find. Japanese bikes from the bike boom of the 70s and 80's, like the Centurion, are another matter. It's not at all hard to get most parts, and things like threading are standard. 

And 27" tires are a red herring. It's certainly true that there is a much bigger selection of 700C tires, but any bike shop and tons of online outlets have a selection of 27" tires that are more than adequate for uses like this.
27 Inch Bicycle Tires from Harris Cyclery (ISO 630 mm)


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

All I'm saying is that when I broke a 27" wheel or an older handlebar, replacing was a pain in the butt. I want my ownership of a utility bike to be defined by utility, not having to look for uncommon wheels or shove oversized handlebars into old stems or phone around for a freewheel or a small part for a downtube shifter. Especially since without a piece of luck, bikes that age that are circulating around the secondary market are already chewed.

In a world of choice and with a pretty big fleet of used bikes out there, I choose to ignore anything too old or too cheap to have at least an 8-speed cassette, 130 mm spacing, 700C wheels, and an English-threaded bottom bracket. I don't want parts I can find on the Internet. I want to walk into any bike shop, wherever I happen to be, and have a couple choices in stock.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Well, I'm in agreement on the English-threaded bottom bracket.

I never broke a handlebar, but I'm probably not as strong as you ;-)

Reasonable choices.


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## CliffordK (Jun 6, 2014)

It depends on the bike. There are a lot of older bikes that show up on the market that have spent more time in the garage or basement than they've spent on the road. Even for the high mileage bikes, it depends on how they were treated and maintained.

Of course in the $100 market, the "good" bikes are usually pretty beat up, but in the $500 market, one can get some very nice low mileage classics. 

I've never broken handlebars. Maybe I've broken the bottom off of a stem, or at least seen a broken one. I did have a bit of a challenge when I decided to try winged handlebars which required finding a stem with two bolts to hold the bars. So far I've avoided the 1.25" stem adapters.

I don't know how I'd compare the quality of a 30 year old road bike vs a brand new $150 Walmart Special. Certainly the Walmart bikes cut a lot of corners. But, even the low end new bikes can beat the classics with some things such as gearing, although somehow they can make aluminum frames heavy.


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