Where I park the car near work there’s been a house with a notice on the door about seizure of property or something but it’s been up for weeks. Walked back to my car at the end of the day and saw they were clearing the house out an outside was an old road bike minus wheels. Managed to blag the frame off the removal guys as they had bugger all room in their van. So here it is :-

Proper old school Raleigh Arena which is filthy but generally fine with the exception of a small dent on the top tube. Was looking for ages for a fixie frame and have not been able to find a cheap one. Last bike I bought was complete but when I went to see it it was mint despite being 12years old so I’ve not turned it to the dark side! Got a lot of prep to do on the frame but it should be fun!
Apologies if someone thought this was something really exciting!!

I really want to get a posh steel road frame and spray it up like an old Arena or Medale – but I’ve absolutely no idea why 🙂

Just watch out for those forks, they tended to snap at the crown when they got rusty, not nice…..

ha… bought a set of 2nd hand wheels today for €60 for some ratty frame i’m knocking up for the GF.

kinda forget that the frame is old, so i had to pull the frame about to get the hubs in there…. it’s steel though, so shouldn’t be a problem. it’s meant to flex, right?

have fun with the build….

i knocked this together after finding it in a bush. sanded, new paint, stickers and self built wheels. set me back about €150 in total.

I’m not putting too much faith in the forks! They look a little dodgy but I’ll check them out when it’s stripped down

Ooh, my brother had one of those Arenas in the 70s, with those short mudguards too.
Raleigh frames have a lifetime warranty, so if you can find the original receipt, anything goes wrong – new bike!
(I did this when I bought a 2nd hand steel Raleigh road bike, but the replacement was rubbish, so I sold it!)

70s – christ I thought it was about 80s!! Spent the past few evenings redcorating my lounge while the mrs is away and in between gloos coats I had time to strip it down. I’ts now a bare frame with the excetion of a stuckk drive side b/b cup. Cant get it out, think I used to use my old mans 500mm adjustable on my old school racers when I was a kid so can’t do much now. Only fault I can find is the slight dent on the top tube and a small bend where the pannier rack mount the rear dropout which is easily sorted.

Just a quick check as well, I’m removing the bottom bracket with the intention of just putting in a cartridge b/b instead. There’s no problem with that is there?

bb will be no problem,built a few old retro fixed/SS’s and fitted cartridge sq tapers.

PS,sold the same bike in the same colour to a mate six months ago,nice retro ride !

I had one of those badboys in the early 80’s.

wicked stuff thanks for that. Just trying to locate seom wheels and cranks at the moment

should be 27″ wheels in that Taff,but 700c is do-able !

may have some in either size,can check shed tomora if you like ?

no harm in looking!! Thanks for that

i had one of those gotting in like new condition in 2005 the bb was shot i got a new shimano un54 in but the non drive side was a pig for some reason the plastic cup wouldn’t go in all the way i took it out chased the tread with the proper park cutting tool still no joy it always sat proud by a couple of mm other than that i put flat bars on it and used it 2×5 til i gave it away came with one of those brooks b52 plastic seats was harsh to ride so it soon went nice find i never did see if 700c wheels would fit but prob would have with shall drop brakes

Taff, I’ve returned from the depths of the shed,YGM…..