About four years ago, I made a post about the two road bicycles that had brought about some major and good changes in my life as a twenty-something. I have always been pretty sentimental about the very first one, a 1987 Centurion LeMans RS. I've long regretted letting it go, and the post linked above came off a bit melancholy about the loss. I'm sure getting rid of the Le Mans made sense at the time - probably a shortage of space thing, as I was then an apartment dweller."It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare." - Samuel Longhorn Clemens, AKA Mark Twain
I'm happy to report that I have located a sibling to the old bike. A young fellow over in Deer Park, Washington had a 1987 Centurion Le Mans for sale for $80 - roughly a quarter of what I paid for the first one back in the day. The handy inflation calculator says that $320 in 1987 is the equivalent of paying $885 in 2024, so yes, it was a very painful purchase for a guy living on the margins of economic viability.
The drive over to Deer Park was quite pleasant. The route is somewhat remote through scenic woods and horse country, and it had no tourists on it - so there were no vehicles tailgating us. I haven't figured out why people on vacation are in such a big hurry to get wherever they are going. It's not like the boss will sack them for being late to work...
The guy selling the bike was a young fellow. When we arrived, he was in the bottom of a backhoe-dug trench connecting water lines in a horse enclosure. The place was a horse sanctuary, and they were installing an underground watering system to save money on hand-watering and trough heaters to keep the water from freezing during the winter months.
On the return route we decided to forego the same road, and went north on Hwy 2, and had lunch at Connie's in Sandpoint. I always try to manage a grilled tuna sandwich there whenever there's an excuse to do so :)
In the end I returned home with a dusty and neglected Centurion Le Mans, complete with a Kryptonite bike lock, just like the one my old one used to have. The previous owner did not have a key to the lock, so it's stuck on the frame until I get around to using a cutting wheel on it.
The bike is in decent shape cosmetically from a cursory look. I really didn't spend any time checking it out - just exchanged cash and stuffed it in the back of the car. I noticed that the chain binds up in the derailleur when you back it up, so probably something is rusted up there. It will be fun cleaning it up and maybe doing a resto-modification on it. The original shifters were not indexed, and that's something I'd like to have. Maybe some upgraded rims. The best thing about the old Le Mans was the smooth ride, so that (and a lot of nostalgia), is what drove the purchase.
So, on to the pictures!!!
According to the owner, this was a California bike. It could easily have been the old bike returned to me, except that I got rid of the reflectors and the plastic "dork ring" between the rear gear set and the spokes.
It's a bit grimy and rusty at the moment, but the bones of the frame are intact, and it should clean up nicely, with a few dings. Just like the old one.
3 comments:
A very nice find. Looking forward to hearing how it rides after you are done with all the fixing up and modifications. For a bunch of years (perhaps even in high school) I had a red Schwinn (hope I spelled that right) and put about 7,000 miles on it before all said and done. Well, when the wife and I got together we had to put some things into storage. One day I went to pay the monthly bill only to find the place had burned down. Was nice of them to not notify me sooner, and other folks had time to pick what they wanted. In any case the Schwinn was inside and had considerable burn damage, and I didn't have the funds to clean and fix it up again. So, said goodbye to that bike. Fast forward many years (can probably measure that in decades now) and my in-laws found a Schwinn 10-speed in a garage sale for $25, and bought it. My father-in-law wanted the bike but ended up not riding it at all. So, he sold it to me for $15. Put new tires on it and found it rides just fine. It will take some time for me to get used to that seat again though. I'd like to have rims with disc brakes on it but unsure if it's worth the investment. As it is, when I brake it makes a rather loud screaming noise. Now that I'm retired, I'll likely leave it the way it is. I know a brain injury survivor, who lives up in the Seattle area, that used to be a professional bike repair guy. He suggested it would not be worth the expense to convert my bike to disc brakes, and will be cheaper to just buy a new bike. Oh, the bike is the exact same color as the one I had all those years ago. Likely the same model too.
Glad you found the perfect replacement - and for such a low price!!! You could probably fix the brake squealing issue with some fresh brake pads - I'm sure they are old and hardened up by now. Also consider lightly sanding the rim flanges where the brakes grab with 400 grit if new pads don't fix the issue.
Thanks for the help/suggestion. I'll try doing both and see how it goes. I did buy a new bike though (I'd like to keep the old one), and it's a Motobecane gravel bike. Has the disc brakes I wanted. Also, the shifters are buttons of sorts as part of the brake levers (just behind where you grab to brake). No idea what they are called. Those will take some time to get used to, but they sure work smoothly. I've put front & back fenders on it, mostly due to all the rain we get. The bike coasts a lot easier and smoothly than my old bike. Very noticeable difference. Of course the gear set is of better quality. Sure is a challenge to get everything adjusted right. Picked it up from bikesdirect (online). Is the most I've spent for a bike, and the wife was at all happy about the expense. This note is getting too long. So, I'll email more.
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