Several years back, Joel Metz, while working as a bike messenger in San Francisco, came across an old Peugeot in a dumpster. Pretty much a total loss, but he thought the cranks were just too beautiful to throw out. He was able to salvage only the right crank arm and chainrings. After it had sat in his junk bike parts box for years, he eventually put it on eBay. He asked me to keep my fingers crossed, hoping he might make a few bucks. It was a 1960s Stronglight model 63... winning bid: $440 - for just the right crank & worn old chainrings.

Just thinking about this makes me want to go right out cruising through back alleys dumpster diving for bike treasures.