90’s mountain bikes kind of sit in the same niche as 80’s road bikes. I remember chuckling at all the people buying “mountain bikes” in the early 90’s and the closest any of them got to dirt was riding through a puddle in the bike lane.
I was only riding road bikes back then and could not understand the attraction of riding upright on pavement into the wind.
I didn’t even get on a mountain bike until I was in my 60’s and mistakenly built a couple of vintage bikes. By mistaken, I mean it was so tough to ride trails at that age with such old technology. I took a lot of bumps and bruises and never got beyond a low intermediate level. But boy did it give me an appreciation of the skill level of the “real” mountain bikers.
Now some years later, they serve their purpose for light trail (low technical) use and they fit that bill quite nicely. And they are fun.
John