good brands

what brands you say?

well lets see:

gt
KHS
trek
haro
kona
giant
norco
marin
avanti
raleigh
schwin
raceline
meridah
da bomb
mongoose
gary fisher
specialized
cannondale
black diamond
rocky mountain

ha! who knew i could do that! not me thats for sure!

some of these brands may not be available in other some countrys but most are sold worldwide.

if you go to www.mtbreview.com it has heaps of bikes but they are all at american prices,...which is helpful if your american but if you hail form aus... u know.

i think specialized make some pretty good bikes, also giant, cannondale, trek.

but ber prepared tp pay more than what you wanted to!!!!!

Lol
from that list I think we could narrow it down given the price range:
I'd look at Giant, Mongoose, KHS, GT, Raleigh. Good solid companies who go pretty cheap, but won't be making [censored]...

I second the mountain bike review site although it concentrates a little on expensive stuff. Ignore people who tell you that you need to spend $2000 to get started, virtually no-one who rides did, we all started on cheap bikes and had a whole load of fun

Have fun 🙂

Hey
Merida make cheap but good bikes, and they also go up to pro and elite.

i'd say go for a giant or a merida they offer the best value by far of all the bikes i've seen

just look to spend as much as you can on the bike and don't expect a $300 bike to take lots of big hits and you will be fine!