Interesting Article on the sustainability of bicycles on solar.lowtechmagazine.com/

[greencat]

By the 90's the current mindset was firmly established and we were paying a premium for mtbs as they were , relatively , the newer thing . I was thinking further back than that ,{50s , 60s and 70s} when the choices were more limited by the materials available and local manufacturing was still financially viable and people expected things to last longer . I didn't say that , apologies . That said £340 for a Vitus of that spec is a great deal , kudos .
Edit : I just checked and Vitus are listing it at £600 , still a good deal .

Chainreaction have it at 400:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/vitus-nucleus-27-vr-mountain-bike-blue

Probably fair to say that most bikes in the earlier eras were more expensive in terms of proportion of salary. And that if there were cheap and nasty ones, they probably haven't survived. In the late 1800s, bikes were largely hand built and a luxury for the well off. I'm not sure we want to return to those days either.

 

[Imlach]

Chainreaction have it at 400:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/vitus-nucleus-27-vr-mountain-bike-blue

Probably fair to say that most bikes in the earlier eras were more expensive in terms of proportion of salary. And that if there were cheap and nasty ones, they probably haven't survived. In the late 1800s, bikes were largely hand built and a luxury for the well off. I'm not sure we want to return to those days either.

Yeah that is a valid point, it isn't until mass manufactured bicycles hit the markets in the 1920s and upwards that the bicycle really took the world by storm and became affordable to the wider population. Even so it was probably not until the 40s that the bicycle really started to become affordable for the poor, considering the fact that the automobile at that point was giving bicycles a run for their money as a transportation tool, having been mass produced for a couple of decades at that point.

 

[Imlach]

Interestingly, the bicycle of the 19th and early 20th century does sort of coincidence with the first wave of feminism, and the bicycle became very synonymous with the struggle of female empowerment and to many women it was seen as integral of the shift in society toward increased freedoms for women. But that actually reflects quite strongly which layer of society had access to the bicycle, because it was largely the affluent upper classes that propelled the early women's rights movements.

 

[grantoury]

Chainreaction have it at 400:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/vitus-nucleus-27-vr-mountain-bike-blue

Probably fair to say that most bikes in the earlier eras were more expensive in terms of proportion of salary. And that if there were cheap and nasty ones, they probably haven't survived. In the late 1800s, bikes were largely hand built and a luxury for the well off. I'm not sure we want to return to those days either.

The kind of sports bicycles that we are used to on RB would have been expensive, and I guess they still are. Most of the research focuses on "normal" bicycles that were for every day use. Another nuance that is lost a bit in the article.
Still, some affordable sports bicycles from the past have survived, and in the Netherlands a lot of affordable everyday bicycles survive where expensive everyday bicycles can be rare.

 

[squirrelchaser]

Chainreaction have it at 400:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/p/vitus-nucleus-27-vr-mountain-bike-blue

Probably fair to say that most bikes in the earlier eras were more expensive in terms of proportion of salary. And that if there were cheap and nasty ones, they probably haven't survived. In the late 1800s, bikes were largely hand built and a luxury for the well off. I'm not sure we want to return to those days either.

Obviously 19th century bicycles are not the point here , as you say . I'm not sure either of your examples really qualify as cheap bikes either . I bought a new Cannondale for a couple of hundred quid from Evans because it was January and they needed the space and a Saracen Sahara isn't quite the Raleigh Arena that I was meaning . Economic trends , global trade and manufacturing have always shifted . In terms of longevity I'd put my money on a Raleigh Arena over a Teman .