Please excuse the picture quality for now:
I was driving along whist working one day and there were two rusty bikes outside of a house that was being renovated, marked as scrap. One was a Girl's Raleigh Montage that was rusted beyond salvage, and the other was this Centurion.
I took the Montage to the tip and took the Centurion home.
I wasn't familiar with Centurion and didn't look too closely at it, assuming it was just a catalogue brand that I could do a quick paint and single speed conversion or something. Although I did note that the frame was lugged.
6 months after picking it up I have had a proper look at it and decided that it's worth a straight up restoration.
It's obviously been left outside for a long time. There was a rusty cable lock still attached (though cut) and where that had been I can see it was once a red metallic. Head badge isn't present but it was an oval shape. Anyone know the model?
I'm just going to give all the components a really good clean. The rims are cleaning up nicely, Rigida Superchromix with Pelissi'er hubs. Tyres are rotten.
It's got details like the cable bridge on the bottom bracket, and I can see evidence of the lugs once being silver lined.
I've decided to shot blast and respray in the original red metallic, restore all the components and only replace what I need to, apart from the obvious service items and possibly a rear mech upgrade.
It's so cathartic- Just relaxing with some music, a cup of tea, some Autosol and a bike in bits
I was driving along whist working one day and there were two rusty bikes outside of a house that was being renovated, marked as scrap. One was a Girl's Raleigh Montage that was rusted beyond salvage, and the other was this Centurion.
I took the Montage to the tip and took the Centurion home.
I wasn't familiar with Centurion and didn't look too closely at it, assuming it was just a catalogue brand that I could do a quick paint and single speed conversion or something. Although I did note that the frame was lugged.
6 months after picking it up I have had a proper look at it and decided that it's worth a straight up restoration.
It's obviously been left outside for a long time. There was a rusty cable lock still attached (though cut) and where that had been I can see it was once a red metallic. Head badge isn't present but it was an oval shape. Anyone know the model?
I'm just going to give all the components a really good clean. The rims are cleaning up nicely, Rigida Superchromix with Pelissi'er hubs. Tyres are rotten.
It's got details like the cable bridge on the bottom bracket, and I can see evidence of the lugs once being silver lined.
I've decided to shot blast and respray in the original red metallic, restore all the components and only replace what I need to, apart from the obvious service items and possibly a rear mech upgrade.
It's so cathartic- Just relaxing with some music, a cup of tea, some Autosol and a bike in bits
