Centurion (bicycles)
Centurion was a brand of bicycles created in 1969 by Mitchell (Mitch) M. Weiner and Junya (Cozy) Yamakoshi, who co-founded ''Western States Import Co. (WSI)'' in Canoga Park, California (initially Wil-Go Imports) to design, specify, distribute and market the bicycles. The bikes themselves were manufactured initially in Japan by companies including ''H. Teams Company'' of Kobe and later in Taiwan by companies including Merida. The Centurion brand was consolidated with WSI's mountain bike brand '' DiamondBack'' in 1990. WSI ceased operations in 2000. Centurion and WSI competed in the U.S. against domestic and European bicycle manufacturers including Schwinn, Raleigh, Peugeot, Gitane and Motobecane — as well as other nascent Japanese bicycle brands including Miyata, Fuji, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Univega, Lotus and Nishiki — itself a line of Japanese-manufactured bicycles that were specified, distributed and marketed by ''West Coast Cycles'' — a U.S. comp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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WSI Logo
The acronym WSI may refer to: * Wafer-scale integration, a technique for building large integrated circuits * Wall Street Institute, the former name of Wall Street English, an English language education company * Walter Schottky Institute, a research center at the Technical University of Munich * Water Safety Instructor, a person qualified to teach swimming lessons * Weather Services International, a sister company to The Weather Channel, specializing in weather data and software * Weather Stress Index, a relative measure of weather conditions * Web Services Interoperability, Organization (WS-I), computer industry consortium * Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, college institute in New South Wales * Winter Soldier Investigation, inquiry into war crimes resulting from United States policies in the Vietnam War * Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne, Poland's former military intelligence services * World Security Institute, think-tank for independent research and journalism on global affairs * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fuji (bicycles)
Fuji Bikes is a brand of bicycles and cycling equipment currently owned by Advanced Sports International. The company is a descendant of , a bicycle manufacturer originally established in Japan in 1899. The company took its name and logo from Mount Fuji, a Japanese symbol of strength and endurance. History The company was founded in 1899 in Japan by Okazaki Kyūjirō. In 1900 it was established under the trade name Nichibei Shōkai (literally 'Japanese-American Trading Company'). At first, it was importing and distributing US-products, but later it began bicycle production in Japan. During World War II the company name was changed to Dainippon Cycle, which after the war was changed back to Nichibei Fuji Cycle Company. By the late 1920s, Fuji was Japan’s most popular bicycle. In the 1930s, Fuji established the first national stage race between Osaka and Tokyo and sponsored the winning team. Today, this race remains a premier race in Asia. The first Asian games were held in New D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sheldon Brown (bicycle Mechanic)
Sheldon Brown (July 14, 1944 – February 4, 2008) was an American bicycle mechanic, technical expert and author. He contributed to print and online sources related to bicycling and bicycle mechanics, in particular the web site ''Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info''. His knowledge of bicycles was described as "encyclopaedic" by ''The Times'' of London. Background Brown was the parts manager, webmaster and technical consultant of Harris Cyclery, a bike shop in West Newton, Massachusetts, as well as an enthusiast of vintage and classic bicycles in addition to cycling in general. Brown maintained ''Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info'', a web site highlighting a broad range of cycling subjects ranging from how to fix a bicycle flat tire to details on Raleigh and English three-speed bicycles, Sturmey-Archer hubs, tandems, and fixed-gear bicycles. He repaired cameras and was an amateur photographer. His site features his photographic work. Brown maintained an English-French c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cinelli
Cinelli () is an Italian bicycle manufacturing company based in Milan, producing mostly road bicycles and components; production is estimated to consist of 80 per cent components and 20 per cent bicycles. History Cinelli was founded in 1948 by Cino Cinelli (born Montespertoli, 9 February 1916, died 20 April 2001), a former professional road racer and president of the Italian Cyclists' Association. He was a professional racer from 1937 to 1944, winning Milan–San Remo in 1943, the Giro di Lombardia in 1938, and the Tour of the Apennines in 1937. He started a company under his name in 1948. Cinelli was the seventh of 10 children, the son of a small landowner near Florence. He became interested in bicycle technology after mechanical failures in races. Failure to interest manufacturers with his ideas in 1946 led him to start his own company. His brother Giotto was making steel stems and bars in Florence and Cinelli moved the business to Milan, centre of the Italian cycling i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The New Centurions (novel)
''The New Centurions'' (1971), is a novel by American writer Joseph Wambaugh. It explores the stresses of police work in Los Angeles, California, in the early 1960s. The author wrote the novel, his first, while he was still a working member of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The novel was adapted as a film of the same name starring George C. Scott and Stacy Keach. Plot summary The novel is basically without plot, instead episodically depicting the psychological changes in three LAPD officers caused by their police work, and particularly the nature of police work in poor minority communities of Los Angeles. The three officers, Serge Duran, Gus Plebesly, and Roy Fehler, are classmates at the police academy in the summer of 1960, and the novel examines their lives each August of succeeding years, culminating in their on-the-job reunion during the Watts riots of August 1965. ''The New Centurions'' is likely the most autobiographical of Wambaugh's novels. He provides a st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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San Francisco, CA
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th most populous in the United States, with 815,201 residents as of 2021. It covers a land area of , at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City, and the fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income (at $160,749) and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include ''SF'', ''San Fran'', ''The '', ''Frisco'', and ''Baghdad by the Bay''. San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Touring Bicycle
A touring bicycle is a bicycle designed or modified to handle bicycle touring. To make the bikes sufficiently robust, comfortable and capable of carrying heavy loads, special features may include a long wheelbase (for ride comfort and to avoid pedal-to-luggage conflicts), frame materials that favor flexibility over rigidity (for ride comfort—though frame flexing can eventually lead to metal fatigue and frame failure, so newer frames are rigid), heavy duty wheels (for load capacity), and multiple mounting points (for luggage racks, fenders, and bottle cages). Types Touring bicycle configurations are highly variable and may include road, sport touring, trail, recumbent, or tandem configurations. Road touring Road touring bicycles have a frame geometry designed to provide a comfortable ride and stable, predictable handling when laden with baggage, provisions for the attachment of fenders and mounting points for carrier racks and panniers. Modern road tourers may employ 700C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Road Bicycle
The term road bicycle is used to describe bicycles built for traveling at speed on paved roads. Some sources use the term to mean racing bicycle. Other sources specifically exclude racing bicycles from the definition, using the term to mean a bicycle of a similar style but built more for endurance and less the fast bursts of speed desired in a racing bicycle; as such, they usually have more gear combinations and fewer hi-tech racing features. Certain of these bicycles have been referred to as 'sportive' bicycles to distinguish them from racing bicycles. Compared to other styles of bicycle, road bicycles share common features: * The tires are narrow, high-pressure ( or higher), and smooth to decrease rolling resistance * The handlebars are bent ("dropped") to allow the rider position to be leaned forward and downward, which reduces the forward vertical cross sectional area and thus highly reduces the air resistance * They usually use derailleur gears; however, single-speed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Japanese Yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. The New Currency Act of 1871 introduced Japan's modern currency system, with the yen defined as of gold, or of silver, and divided decimally into 100 ''sen'' or 1,000 ''rin''. The yen replaced the previous Tokugawa coinage as well as the various ''hansatsu'' paper currencies issued by feudal ''han'' (fiefs). The Bank of Japan was founded in 1882 and given a monopoly on controlling the money supply. Following World War II, the yen lost much of its prewar value. To stabilize the Japanese economy, the exchange rate of the yen was fixed at ¥360 per US$ as part of the Bretton Woods system. When that system was abandoned in 1971, the yen became undervalued and was allowed to float. The yen had appreciated to a peak of ¥271 per US$ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nishiki (bicycle)
Nishiki is a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by ''West Coast Cycle'' in the United States, initially manufactured by Kawamura Cycle Co. in Kobe, Japan, and subsequently by Giant of Taiwan. The bicycles were first marketed under the ''American Eagle'' brand beginning in 1965 and later under the ''Nishiki'' brand until 2001. Throughout the U.S. bike boom of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Nishiki and ''West Coast Cycle'' competed with domestic companies including Schwinn, Huffy, and Murray; European companies including Raleigh, Peugeot and Motobecane—as well as other nascent Japanese brands including Miyata, Fuji, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Univega, Lotus and Centurion—itself a line of Japanese-manufactured bicycles that were specified, distributed and marketed by Western States Imports (WSI), a U.S. company similar to West Coast Cycle. Japanese-manufactured bikes succeeded in the U.S. market until currency fluctuations in the late 1980s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lotus (bicycles)
Lotus was a brand of bicycles designed, specified, marketed and distributed by Lotus International Corp. of Syosset, New York, which had been founded by Sid and Ernst Star. The bikes were offered as a complete range, from entry level to professional models, and were manufactured by ''Tsunoda Bicycle Corporation'' of Nagoya, Japan (founded in 1926, still in business) and subsequently by other manufacturers — including a group of mid-1980s high end models manufactured in Italy, in conjunction with Cinelli. Lotus International marketed its bikes using an abstraction of the Lotus flower as its logo. During the U.S. bike boom of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Lotus and ''Alpha Cycle & Supply'' competed with domestic companies including Schwinn, TREK, Huffy, and Murray; European companies including Raleigh, Peugeot and Motobecane — as well as other nascent Japanese brands including Miyata, Fuji, Bridgestone, Panasonic, Univega, Centurion and Nishiki. Japanese-manufactured bik ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |