LOOKOUT - old guy weighing in.  I worked at a bike shop fo 6.5 years before there was any such thing as suspension on a mountain bike.  One good thing was that Cannondale would sell us anything at 1/2 retail price since we were dealers.  My first MB had a ~14 inch bb and after I took off the big chainring, was (for the time) a great trials bike.  My kayaking buddy and I would bomb downhill power line trails and stuff all the time until he hit a tree and separated his shoulder.  My mountain  bike now is a vintage (that's what we call ourselves) Gary Fisher that is pristine.
I was more into road bikes and collected tons and tons of old vintage Campy stuff.  I sold a 50th anniversary gruppo to some lady off ebay for $5500 three years ago.  Hmm, for pro bikes, my first was a Pinarello, then Olmo, then an Italian Masi with Renyolds tubing, Masi with Reynolds 753, big-fat Cannondale, some funky French aluminum framed thing I can't think of the name of, 1'st gen Trek carbon fiber etc.  Too many bikes left - all of them are on tubulars.  I've got probably 40 tires hanging in the basement.