But, I'm looking to start. I've done road biking for a long while now and havent had a solid mountain bike in about 5 years at least, back before I really got into bikes. However, since then my hobby has been older road bikes (I generally frequent the C&V section of this forum), so I've come to really enjoy bringing an older piece of machinery back to it's prime condition.

However, that's for road bikes. I naturally want to do the same with a mountain bike, but is the technology too far gone? I guess what I'm saying is a vintage road bike can be restored to perform quite well on roads, but can a vintage mountain bike still handle the vigors and rough terrain of trails?

I guess I'm just not big on modern bikes, and am hoping to find a fun project to re-build another old bike.

I plan on using this bike solely on trails and rough terrain, as I have road bikes for commuting/paths.

Is restoring an older mountain bike an option here or has the technology come too far? I would like it to still be reliable.