Hobbiano 

Hello Centurion Equipe people. I have this bike that I purchased used around 1987, give or take a few years. It was already repainted it when I bought it. The person I got it from said it was a Centurion Cinelli and he had bought it from a local triathlete. From my limited knowledge of the Equipe it seems there were some prototypes or "Project bikes" produced before the main shipment of 50 to 150 bikes. Maybe this is one of those. It is a little different than the Equipe's I've seen pictures of. The fork crown, seat stay cap treatment seems shorter and single water bottle braze on's are obvious differences that I see. Take a look at the pictures and tell me what you see, please. Many thanks.




More pics to come...

Hobbiano 

Bottom bracket &, brake bridge.

Hobbiano 

Rear triangle, fork crown, & fork end.

Campagnerdo 

Yes, I'm certain it is one. These have been the source of some entertaining discussions. This one is my favorite.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...centurion.html

Hobbiano 

Thanks for the link! It looks like it is one of the Bikecology imported frames like this: (from forum member jonsan's post)

cudak888 

EDIT: ^ Beat me to it. Cinelli Project Centurion.

Paging @RobbieTunes on this one, but this looks like one of the oddballs badged with "Cinelli Project" decals, like this one:

Cinelli Only: Centurion, "Equipe", Part III; Cinelli Project



-Kurt

Hobbiano 

Thanks Kurt. It seems the seatstay bridge and chainstay bridge are also different then the Equipe. And in at least one picture I found, the Equipe had a front derailleur braze on and the Project bike does not.

mstateglfr 

Love how the seatstay attaches to the seat lug. Really nicely fashioned.

RobbieTunes

It was a well done bike, sold by Bikecology out of their catalog. Alan Goldsmith, who consulted for Western States Imports (Centurion), very likely contracted for these. He either owned or was a principal at Bikecology.

The bike was very likely made by Chirico, a shop in Bussero (outskirts of Milan) that had a long partnership with Cinelli, and made some Cinelli frames for them. Chirico's son was an "apprentice" frame builder at Cinelli from 1972 until 1984, when he returned to his father's shop in Chirico. He and his father then patented a fork-making process (both internal and external lugs) and they churned out a lot of high-end forks for multiple brands in Europe. One of the rarer dropouts or fork ends is one stamped "CHIRICO." They made some custom frames, some North American-intended Cinelli's, and likely some racing frames (notably the Super Corsa's with eyelets used on European brevets).

Alan Goldsmith went to visit Cino Cinelli, precisely to contract for a production run of the Equipes, and the main negotiation was the size and placement of the Cinelli logo. This was a concern of Cinelli throughout the production of frames for others (Lotus, Centurion, etc) outside the umbrella of "normal" production Cinellis.

Goldsmith met with the elder Cinelli, then Andreas, and the deal was done for a shipping container full of the Equipe. Chirico was contracted for those frames, and then the rest of the time was spent at Cino's olive orchards.

Goldsmith returned to consult on the "modern" Ironman models, started Park Pre bikes with his wife, and then went on to other small companies like Specialized....

He never figured out the fuss over the Ironman models, but I'm sure he didn't dwell on it. He was/is an important figure in the industry, and also a full-time lawyer.

I'll never really know if the Project came before the Equipe, or at the same time through different distribution, or after. The pantographs are oriented differently, and of course, less chrome. The frames are pretty nice. A ton of them ended up under racers, likely purchased out of the Bikecology catalog and built up. They're as Italian as any bike made in Italy, and pedigreed as well. Cinelli and Chirico go way back.

Hobbiano 

Thank you Robbie!

I was thinking the Project bikes were earlier, but only because some elements, like single water bottle mounts, generally seem more common on earlier bikes (sold in the US). But that's not really much to go on. I wonder if there were more project bikes sold than Equipe's?
I rode the bike quite a bit. At the time, I had two good bikes. This one, which was my back up bike, and my '84 Trek 760, both of which I still have.