I'm with the keeping it votes but yes, do what works best for you. I personally prefer riding bikes of this era to modern equivalents. Some riders modernize vintage bikes as well. Not my thing but you could add a shorter stem/riser bars and go single front with a big range on the back for gearing. Looks like XTR M900 rather than XT, prices I see locally in Canada and eBay are nuts for this first gen XTR.