Last Updated on June 30, 2022 by FAB Jim The Cyclist
The vintage Centurion Bike company was started in 1969 by Mitchel Weiner and Junya Yamakoshi. Mitchel focused on running the business, and Junya supervised the manufacture and export to the USA. Centurion was a brand of Western States Import Company (WSI) in Newbury Park, CA which also owned the Diamondback brand. Early on the bikes were made in Japan, and later Taiwan. Most of their distribution was on the west coast which might explain why I wasn’t familiar with them until more recently. Starting in 1990 they switched to using just the Diamondback brand for road bikes and mountain bikes. In 1999 Diamondback was bought by Derby Cycle Corporation. WSI closed in 2000. A German company bought the Centurion brand name in 1990 and continue to make them today.
From what I have seen they made lots of really nice vintage road bikes. Have a look at some of their bikes:
Where Centurion leads, others must follow
Models
BMX
Elite
Ironman
LeMans
Omega
Prestige
Professional
Pro-Tour
Sport-10
Semi-Pro
Super Elite
Super LeMans
Super Mixte
Turbo
Here is a site with lots of great vintage Centurion info:
Very nice