If you don't do anything else this weekend, stop and peek at the photos Amir posted: <snip>
Photo at: http://www.flickr.com/
The hollow, steel, Duprat cranks (cottered) are awesome, even today. Years ago, I weighed one of the right cranks. It was 3 grams heavier than the equivalent aluminum TA 5-pin. About 1.5%. Sure, I didn't weigh the whole crankset, and there would be other weight differences (shorter cotterless crank, cotters may weigh more than cotterless attachment bolts/washers, etc), but it is still a pretty impressive piece of production work. My friend Jim Papadopoulos gave me a set decades ago, and I've used them regularly eve since, on fixed gear bikes. Right now, they're in service on my '53 Ephgrave.
Thanks, Amir!
harvey sachs
mcLean va usa