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Old 01-21-15, 04:25 PM
  #40  
John E
feros ferio
 
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Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: www.ci.encinitas.ca.us
Posts: 21,765

Bikes: 1959 Capo Modell Campagnolo; 1960 Capo Sieger (2); 1962 Carlton Franco Suisse; 1970 Peugeot UO-8; 1982 Bianchi Campione d'Italia; 1988 Schwinn Project KOM-10;

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Originally Posted by auchencrow
  • Cottered cranks are beautiful.
  • They are extremely durable.
  • You don't have to worry about crank bolts coming loose.
  • You wont be pulling the threads out of your crank arm
  • You only need one cotter press (vs ISO,TA and SL pullers).
  • They ARE easy to work on in most cases. (It only takes a little finesse to fit cotters).
  • Rarely, they can be hard to remove even with the right tool, but you can still salvage the crank arm by drilling or drifting out the cotter.
  • You don't have to worry about wear in the chamfers of the square drive.
...
I have broken two left cranks while riding. The first, a 1960 Agrati on my first 1960 Capo, broke across the spindle eye as I was starting across Wilshire Bl. on Westwood Bl., for those familiar with the UCLA area. I managed to get across this huge intersection -- the busiest and largest in west Los Angeles -- and 3 miles home with the left crank timing advanced by about 30 degrees. The breakage shook me up, but did not dump me. The second, a 1970 Sugino Mighty Compe aluminum, broke across the pedal eye during an out-of-saddle climb. That one did throw me to the ground, causing minor injuries, and I had to ride the bus most of the way home. After the shock of falling, it took me a moment to see what had happened, because my left foot was still clipped into the pedal, but the pedal was no longer attached to the bike.

I am keeping the original Agrati cottered crankset, with aftermarket aluminum Simplex rings in my preferred 49-46 size, on my current 1960 Capo. Agrati, aka Magistroni, made a high-end cottered crankset, with the drive side crank and the spider forged as a single unit.
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"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
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