Raleigh Bicycle Company the mid-1960s, TI–Raleigh owned Brooks (one of the oldest saddle makers in the world), Sturmey-Archer (pioneer of 3-speed hubs), and Reynolds (maker of 531 tubing). Carlton, which had been unable to make inroads in the USA market after a failed rebranding deal with Huffy, found success in the late 1960s by recasting itself as "Raleigh-Carlton", a Raleigh-logo'd bike with some Carlton badging, and using the US dealer network to import and distribute bikes. The Raleigh Chopper was designed by Nottingham native Alan Oakley, though this has been disputed by Cambridge designer Tom Karen. The Chopper was patented in the UK
Centurion (bicycle company) Centurion (bicycle company) 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. Tano Company" of Kobe and later in Taiwan by companies including Merida. The Centurion brand was consolidated with WSI's mountain bike brand "Diamond Back" in 1990. WSI ceased operations in 2000. Centurion and WSI competed in the U.S. against domestic and European bicycle manufacturers including