3 pages in and no mention of Mountain Cycle? The San Andreas was revolutionary - first suspension to actually work, first disc brakes. they just never managed to top the San Andreas.
Syncros. Cool & snobbish, but with a real racing heritage/competitve edge. Now only a marketing hack, generic stuff branded as.
Oh, is WTB still in original hands of their owners?-their Momentum GG line was nice & quirky, sadly way overpriced back in those days, and rare, their BB is very hard to find, especially in usable sizes.
I don't know about most respected, but back in the day, Pro Flex was popular and relatively well known. Loads of dual-suspension models (the naming of which always baffled me). Now defunct.
I mean, during that era, even the specialized stumpjumper was a rigid hardtail frame (and not even that well known if I can remember rightly). They just weren't at the forefront as they are now.