1984 Centurion Turbo Project

I am not a winter person. One of the best things about moving from North East Ohio to the Cincinnati area is the short, relatively mild winters and usually clear roads until January. I have not ridden since the Sunday after Thanksgiving and now the roads are full of sand, grit and salt. I am not a big indoor trainer guy either although I did get the beast out and dust it off but I just couldn't bring myself to hook up a bike to it. I guess I could go out for a run but that just seems like so much work and a miserable way to get a little excercise.

So here is what I am going to do. I dragged a project bike out of the shed that I picked up earlier this fall. It's a 1984 Centurion Turbo 58 cm. It was their top of the line bike that year. It is just my size and will be a truly beautiful bike. It sports Champion #1 Cr-Mo tubing, chrome Suntour Pro dropouts, chrome crown on the fork and chrome ends on the seat stays. Matter of fact I think they chromed the whole thing and then painted it.

The bike is in fairly good condition with no dents or huge scratches.It is complete stock with the exception of the cheesy cranks. The Sugino Aero Mighty crankset that went with the bike are kind of pricey if you can find them. I have an old Shimano 600 crankset that I will install until I can find an original.

Gran Compe brakes and levers are anodized gold and the Suntour Superbe derailers will hopefully clean up nice. Anodized sealed Suzue hubs and Araya 700 rims are also original and will have to be trued and cleaned up as well. I will post more pictures after I get started.

Playing the handlebars

Mark Growden plays the handlebars from Doctor Popular on Vimeo.

NE Wayne Co, IN Ride Report

Nov. 28, 2010

It is becoming a tradition. When we gather at my parents house for Thanksgiving weekend my brother and I go out for a ride. We normally go South of Richmond where there are few nice hills and scenery. This year we decided to tour our old stomping grounds of NE Wayne Co.

We started out before noon on Sunday and dodged all the mad shoppers as we crossed 40 towards New Paris Pike and Porterfield Rd. Porterfield was the most scenic part of the trip because once we got past Middleboro it was all typical Indiana flatland.

We nixed the idea of passing through Whitewater where we both went to elementary school. All that is left of the school is a vacant lot.

So it was off to Fountain City, our hometown and the home of Levi Coffin, "The Grand Conductor of the Underground Railroad".

Since it was only 40 we stopped to warm up and have a cup of coffee at the old Mrs. T's, now the Village Inn or something like that. We then rode through town and past the places where we lived and played. It's funny how things shrink. As a kid I remember being so far away from our house which in reality was just a couple of blocks.

We then headed west with a little detour to hit New Garden Rd. and then on to Williamsburg. Not much has changed there either. They did keep the school which is now a community center.

We picked up the Cardinal Green Way for an easy ride back into

Richmond. They had just paved this section. There were no signs erected and I don't believe it is officially opened as of yet.

We got into Richmond and took "A" into Glen Miller Park and home.

A nice 36 mile ride on a beautiful day in late November.

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