Raleigh Arena

The Raleigh Arena was a racer-style bicycle sold by Raleigh of Nottingham in the 1970s and into the early 1980s. A Wheelers' Brunch blog post that examined one describes a small and practical machine, with relatively slack geometry, miniature mudguards with eyelets for full mudguards, the traditional Raleigh lamp mount on the right fork blade, a friction down-tube shifter controlling a five-speed derailleur, Weinmann caliper brakes rather than Raleigh's own, and 597 millimetre rims of a size once used on club bicycles. Olympic branding and a sticker stating that Raleigh's team won the 1977 Tour de France led the writer to date that example to about 1980. A road.cc writer remembers being pointed firmly towards a sky blue Raleigh Arena in the brochure, and says many friends had the blue Arena with a five-speed Huret Eco drivetrain and steel everything, while one had the ice green Arena 10.