Cannondale and Gary Fisher are both decent brands. Which is the best bike will be determined by the quality of the parts they're built with.
Gary Fisher is famous for inventing the modern mountain bike. He was also known for competing in road and track races. Gary Fisher was the winner of the Masters XC national title and the TransAlp race in Europe around the 1970s. After a while the Trek bike replaced the standalone Gary Fisher brand of bike.
The fork
The forks are the parts of the bicycle frame to which the wheels are attached.
Gary Fisher and roommate Charlie Kelly started "MountainBikes", the first company to manufacture Mountain Bikes, in 1979. FYI: The frames were built by Tom Ritchey himself (who founded Ritchey Designs in 1983). In 1983, Fisher took over the company and changed the name to "Gary Fisher Mountain Bikes". In 1991, Fisher sold the brand to Anlen (a major manufacturer in Taiwan), but stayed on as President of the company. In 1993, after what Fisher calls "two excruciating years", Trek acquired Fisher from Anlen.
I weighed mine as soon as I bought it and with all the stock parts the total was 31lbs.
The Lexile level of "The Bike" by Gary Soto is 680L.
Gary Fisher bikes are available in a wide range of prices, which obviously mean that the 2nd hand value also can vary a lot. Generally speaking bikes don't hold on to their value particularly well, so your best bet is to check craigslist, eBay for similar bikes and see what they sell for.
There are a few men who can be called pioneers of the sport, including Tom Ritchey and Gary Fisher. But, one man is credited with building the first "purpose built" mountain bike frame, Joe Breeze
They're both good, but the Gary HooKoo E Koo is a classic, a solid performer, very reasonably affordable and embodying the eclectic style of the Fisher style.
GT mountain bikes average cost is $2,166! One may desire to do comparison shopping to find just the right bike for themselves, but overall the average GT mountain bike costs 2,166 dollars or right there abouts!
Gary Turner invented the GT brand.