Thinking of buying another old Raleigh Grand Prix that looks like a time capsule. I would ride it on a pretty regular basis. I think it's a 74-75'? It has cottered cranks but the bike was barely ever ridden. A brief search here on Bikeforums has me worried about them slipping or worse yet removing them. Then there's the threading issues I've read about if I need to switch the bottom bracket, maintaining the width and chainline, etc? I'm not sure I want to get into crank upgrades along with wheel upgrades, adding a Brooks, etc. I don't want to invest $500 into a $150 bike.

The question is how much of a problem are cottered cranks that presumably are aligned properly and have little wear on them and are like new. I know they are heavy as heck but didn't they rule for years without slipping and injuring the world?