6) 1988 Centurion Accordo

SPECS

Status:  Sold
Made in Japan
​Size: 56cm
Frame & Fork:  Tange Prestige
Groupset:  Shimano 105 (1055)
Stem & Bars: Nitto Olympiade bars & Nitto Technomic stem
Wheelset:  Matrix ISO C-II rims on Shimano 105 hubs and Maxxis Detonator 700x28c tires

BEFORE

Centurion made some great bikes with nice groupsets and Tange Infinity tubing.  They also came with what I always thought were terrible graphics and paint.   So, when I saw this ugly beat up bike on Facebook Marketplace I thought, "Hey.  Those are nice bones with a great groupset.  Looks like the perfect opportunity to try my hand at painting a bike."

AFTER

Wow!  It was so much fun rebuilding this bike!  The frame was in terrible condition on the outside.  The paint was destroyed.  There was rust all over it.  When I took it apart however, the inside of the tubes was mint. 

I had so much fun painting this bike.  I made a few mistakes but they weren't severe and I learned so much.  I sanded and stripped all the paint from the frame and fork and removed all the rust.  I used the PPG Shopline automotive paint system.  All the white 'decals' are actually paint.  First, the frame was primed, then the areas with white logos were painted white.  I created the decals in Photoshop and cut out vinyl decals with a Cricut.  The decals were placed on the white paint and then the blue was painted.  After that, the decals were removed, revealing the white underneath.  I mixed too much clear coat so this bike received four coats of clear.  I was very happy with the results.  There were a few runs but nothing too bad.  As well, I stupidly placed the Infinity tubing decal in the wrong place and had to cover half of it with the front derailleur.  I won't make that mistake again! 

​The spokes on the wheelset that came on the bike were quite corroded but luckily I found this nice Matrix wheelset that coincidentally already had the Shimano 105-1055 hubs. The shifters and brake levers on the bike were in really bad shape but I luckily found NOS ones on Marketplace.  The cranks were in such bad condition with grooves and nicks that I had to file out all the rough spots and then polish them back to a nice shine.  In the end, they turned out beautiful.  I also had to replace the original handlebars and stem.  The bars were steel and rusted beyond repair and the stem was also in pretty rough shape.  Luckily, I found this really nice Nitto combo.  There ended up being a lot of 'new' on this bike.  It has new bar tape, brake levers, shift levers, chain, seat, cables and housing.  It has nearly new wheels and tires.