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Centurion is a brand of bicycles created in 1969 by Mitchell (Mitch) M. Weiner and Junya (Cozy) Yamakoshi,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Sheldonbrown.com, Ashley Wright )〕 who co-founded ''Western States Import Co. (WSI)'' in Canoga Park, California (initially Wil-Go Imports) to design, specify, distribute and market the bicycles. The bikes themselves were manufactured initially in Japan by companies including ''H. Tano Company'' of Kobe and later in Taiwan by companies including Merida. The Centurion brand was consolidated with WSI's mountain bike brand ''Diamond Back'' in 1990. WSI ceased operations in 2000. Centurion and WSI competed in the U.S. against domestic and European bicycle manufacturers including Schwinn, Raleigh, Peugeot, Gitane and Motobecane — as well as other nascent Japanese bicycle brands including Miyata, Fuji, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Univega, Lotus and Nishiki — itself a line of Japanese-manufactured bicycles that were specified, distributed and marketed by ''West Coast Cycles'' — a U.S. company similar to WSI. Japanese-manufactured bikes succeeded in the U.S. market until currency fluctuations in the late 1980s made them less competitive, leading companies to source bicycles from Taiwan. WSI marketed the ''Centurion'' brand of road and touring bicycles in the United States using the tag line ''"Where Centurion leads, others must follow"'' and ''"A Lifetime Bicycle"'', offering a warranty without time limit. For a brief period the bikes carried a "Centurion Bicycle Works" headbadge. ==History== According to Frank J. Berto, author of ''The Dancing Chain: History and Development of the Derailleur Bicycle (3d Ed. 2009)'', Raleigh Industries of America had been looking at a Japanese source for their ''Grand Prix'' model. Raleigh America ordered 2,000 bicycles from Tano and Company of Osaka but their parent company in England, TI-Raleigh, disapproved — concerned that the Tano-built bikes were too well made and would have outsold their own British bikes. Raleigh's sales agent, Mitchell Weiner, who was reading ''The New Centurions'' at the time, took receipt of the bikes, placed ''Centurion'' decals on the bikes and marketed them successfully, subsequently forming ''Western State Imports'' after merging with Rick Wilson's company, Wil-Go of Santa Clara, California. Because the bikes had all been intended as Raleigh ''Grand Prix'' models, as Centurions, they carried the colors of the Raleigh America ''Grand Prix'' model. Cozy Yamakoshi served as the company's product development manager, designing the bike's frames, coordinating the manufacture of the bikes by Japanese manufacturers, and importing the bikes into the US.〔 Subsequently, around 1986, Centurion introduced their first Taiwanese built model, the Signet. The Cinelli Equipe Centurion of 1985 (only) was a joint-venture of WSI and Cinelli of Italy. Early bike sales were limited to the West Coast, with the brand receiving wider exposure by the late 1970s. WSI stopped using the Centurion brand name in 1990, 〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Sheldonbrown.com, Sheldon Brown )〕 consolidating their road and touring bikes under the ''Diamond Back'' (later ''DiamondBack'') brand. While the brand Centurion had become well known, under the new brand name the company's market for road and touring bicycles soon evaporated. Early Diamond Back models (ca. 1990) carried a top tube decal reading "Centurion Designed" and stickers near the bottom bracket reading "Designed in the USA" and "Exclusively built for WSI." Diamondback Bicycles was eventually sold to Raleigh USA, and manufacture was moved to Taiwan. WSI later opened an office in Van Nuys, California, and eventually maintained offices in Dallas, Texas, Denver, Colorado and Dayton, New Jersey — in addition a headquarters in Newbury Park, California. After Weiner died, the company continued its growth under the management of Mike Bobrick. Cozy Yamakoshi, product and development manager, worked with Mike Bobrick (Executive President of WSI) and Sandy Finkelman (1947–2005)(Diamond Back team manager and product development) and left Diamond Back in 1986, to start Parkpre Mountain Bike in 1989.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher = Parkpre.com )〕 Parkpre USA was based in Moorpark, Southern California, USA., producing bikes from the early 1990s until 1998. Ken Yamakoshi, son of Cozy Yamakoshi, is in the process of re-launching Parkpre in the US. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Centurion (bicycle)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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