When is a bike 'Retro'?
The Golden era was really between 1990 and 1995ish
In 1990 you couldn't get a 'good' ready to race mountain bike, that's why all the machine shops and custom builders sprung up.
A top of the range frame from around 1992 like a Klein, Marin Team Titanium or Salsa A la Carte with all of the best machine shop parts (Ringle, Cook Bros, Grafton) would have cost £5k! but it would be able to hold its own with a top of the range '07 bike and it was all hand made in the US. It's bikes from this era that alays win Bike of the Month.
In 1993 Shimano started letting manufacturers pick and choose parts and just get the showy bits like the XT rear mech and shifters from them. Before 1993 a manufacturer had to buy an entire groupset from Shimano whether they wanted it all or not!
From '93 you see guys like Specialized and Canondale (CODA) making own brand hubs, QR's, levers and brakes themselves in Taiwan (these parts were not much worse, or even better, than the machine shop exotica) and from '93 production bikes were about 5lbs lighter than in '92!
When you could get a 25lb bike with front suspension for under a grand the machine shops and custom guys were doomed.
By 2000 you could get a Klein Attitude (Klein ere bought by Trek) with Taiwanese parts branded 'Bontrager' (now owned by Trek) and Rock Shox (now owned by SRAM) for under a grand.
I am sure it is a great bike, but it is not exactly collectable!