Ha! "Cottered crank" brings to mind the horrible cranks on British 3-speeds back in the day. They had soft crank pins that would last about a year, and then you'd get that ka-chunk flop, especially on the left crank arm. I replaced mine often and it was a common job in the bike shop where I worked as a high school kid during the early 60's.

I'm sure the Paramounts were like fine jewelry by comparison.