I'm in the camp that thinks that there may be some collectability for a narrow slice of the vintage MTBs...not enough to stock up on them or anything...but they made lugged mountain bikes for what, like 3 years?

I absolutely love old-school lugged rigid MTBs (commuterized). I saw one of the most gorgeous bikes I've seen in awhile recently, and it was a rigid GT with Columbus tubing, gorgeous lugs and what looked to be a bomb-proof Suntour drive-train.

That said, the ubiquitous Wal-Mart MTB that has become the standard DUI bike, the standard "Joe Schmoe" bike, the average "I just want a bike"... doesn't quite have the cache that roadbikes have and will probably continue to have.