Originally Posted by dddd

From my experience with a 1984 Mountech (the one with the internal spring), and having rebuilt that one early on, I wouldn't expect trouble from it unless you are mountain-biking or riding in a very dirty environment.

As bad as people say they are, mine survived years of use after my initial six months of hard off-road use, and after which I did milder riding mostly on the road, but still with many trail rides thrown in.

I consider the early rear Mountech to be disposable when the top pulley becomes very worn in terms of it's bushing freeplay, since I can't remember ever identifying a convenient source for such a replacement pulley.