Originally Posted by lemurhouse

My first "good" bike had cottered cranks. A Gitane in 1970. I admit they were a pain in the ***, but they were kind of cool in their own way. They work fine if they are setup properly -- but if the pin works loose and gets deformed, it will never fit properly again and the cranks will never never stay tight. Hammering on the pins won't fix 'em -- that just makes the problem worse by driving the BB bearings into the race and pitting them too (brinelling). Need virgin pins and a pin press. Sounds like your boy George doesn't know or much care about what he's doing, sending folks out on the road that way. But it ain't the cottered cranks fault!