I'm struggling with a cotter problem. I picked up a beater Raleigh Rapide for free several months ago and as I always do, tore it down completely to clean up, polish, lube, etc... in other words, SOP. I've probably pulled a hundred cottered cranks and reinstalled with nary a problem - my handy dandy BikeSmith cotter press makes the job a snap.

Well, usually.

The problem is that I can't seem to get the dang cranks to stay lined up properly. I set the cotters and all is well, but when I go to ride the bike the cranks move in their seating. "OK," I thought. "I must have somehow used the wrong size cotter." So I swap 'em out for the next size up, but those won't fit. I compare to the cotters that came out and everything looks like a perfect match. I'm beginning to wonder if the spindle cotter slot is rounded off... sure doesn't look like it though.

Maybe I'm missing something entirely obvious. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Or should I just sit back, drink another Guinness, and quit worrying about it?