Tmac - It's the truth. Those old Raleigh 3-speeds with 40 spoke wheels, and all the other non-sport bikes, were quite bombproof, and they were used as daily transportation by millions of people in all kinds of weather for many years, and similar bikes still are. I never did like cottered cranks, though - but a large part of that was never having the proper tools to deal with them. I recall many unhappy hours pounding away on the damned things with a hammer and a chunk of wood, and how they sometimes wobbled...