Originally Posted by
auchencrow
Most appear to be very practical /utilitarian bikes
And they really were: many such bikes are still in use among older people, looking ugly nowadays but still moving fine (well, "acceptable"
) without servicing.
I also see the consumer-level bike still had cottered cranks. - Are these really that old, or did they carryover these old features into the modern era?
Can't say when exactly cottered cranks were "officially" dropped, but I'm certain they were in production at least until 198x or even later...