First Mountain Bike Help

Cannondale,,too old to upgrade,, not the best choice for single track...
Diamondback,,, priced pretty close to a new one,,pass...

Your looking at $400 bikes,,go to your local bike shop, get new,, warranty and dealer support,,you will need it..

Totalarmordestine said:

Cannondale,,too old to upgrade,, not the best choice for single track...
Diamondback,,, priced pretty close to a new one,,pass...

Your looking at $400 bikes,,go to your local bike shop, get new,, warranty and dealer support,,you will need it..

This right here.
LBS is your best bet.
My local LBS has a basement FULL of good bikes that are a year or two old that are being sold for a good discount.
Always ask about old stock.

The Cannondale is pretty old, but it doesn't look beaten up. The Diamonback seems overpriced, if you shop around you could get a new one for about that much money.

Neither of the bikes is great, but both could get you started riding trails. The suspension won't be all that great, and I wouldn't expect it to last long under aggressive riding (big jumps, high speed rough descents) but fpr moderate trail use it could work. The drivetrain on the Cannondale seems better than the Diamondback, but it is a bit dated. And you would be stuck with rim brakes for that bike.

If you can up your budget to about $500-600 you should br able to find a much better used bike. If $300 is what you have, I'd go for the Cannondale. It is old but you can probably sell it for about the same you would pay for it.

There's one low end bike from a major manufacturer that seems to be a little nicer than the others, the Giant ATX. It's only $440, has 27.5 (650b) wheels and a 100mm sus fork and Tektro disc brakes.
IMHO, if you go new, it's worth a look if your LBS still has some. The local guys here were running out of 2015s when I checked for a friend a couple months ago.

Most of us started off on a crappy fork and lived. It is a first bike and you aren't going to be hucking off 6ft jumps or anything on it. The bigger problem is you probably need a medium and not a large. Assuming the DB is the same one you can get new for $500 on Nashbar this Nishiki is a better deal and a medium.

Try the Nishiki 29er Mountain Bike
It is still low level entry level bike but at least it is cheap. Ride it for a while and then sell it when you upgrade.

For the money you're going to spend, neither is suitable. And that cannondale is too old.

please, you go to the bike shop,get new bike this is best way for you. Cannondale is a old bike .This is not suitable for you.
you spend more money and get a new bike

As someone else as already mentioned, if this is your first time off road biking, for a first mountain bike you just need a bike that's reliable and sturdy as your not going to be thrashing it all over.
The price range to me though sounds a bit low and I'd consider upping it to around the $500 mark instead, there's a lot more choice and frame sizes to choose from in that price range.