Originally Posted by
neilium
Thanks so much for the reply, all really useful information! I do have access to parts through an awesome local co-op, so I will look into cranks. Thanks again for your help!
The trick is not the crank, its finding a solution for the bottom bracket. There are endless threads out there on that issue. The bike has french threaded bottom bracket. Forget about finding new french stuff unless you want to spend major bucks. Instead, you need to replace the spindle. It will take a lot of finagling around, but it is worth it. In the interim, just stick with the cottered crank. Its really not that bad. I had a 1975 Peugeot, I lucked into a donor bike where someone had already made the conversion. So I just swapped the parts and I was ready to go. I picked up another donor last year for the same reason, so I have a nice Stronglight BB and crankset for my next Peugeot project (I have a couple of frames when I get around to it).