The guy I bought it from wasn't the original owner, but he switched out the fork to a rigid with a lot of clearance (which I appreciate since suspension isn't my thing). My only hang up are the v-brakes, as I mostly deal with cantis. The precision stopping is nice though. I'm leaning towards a 1x8 set-up instead of messing with a clamp-on cable stop. I've already got a drop-bar conversion Rockhopper as a dedicated commuter and the Bear Valley is a pretty diesel singletrack/gravel-grinding beast so I'm not really sure where this fits...although I do have a spare set of drops and some NOS day-glo yellow bar tape I've been itching to use.

I'm not super into period accuracy or all-original stuff, so that opens up the options. Other than ugliness and convention, is there any reason I shouldn't replace the shifter/brake combo for the front derailleur with just a brake lever for the 1x8 set up?