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.
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 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.
The fork
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
No way of telling, unless you tell us what you want from your bike.
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.
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.
The forks are the parts of the bicycle frame to which the wheels are attached.
I weighed mine as soon as I bought it and with all the stock parts the total was 31lbs.
I'm not sure. But the fun value of riding a GT mountain bike down Palomar mountain is lot's.
The "mountain bicycle" is hard to define as "invented" since it evolved from cyclo-cross and by riders taking modified beach cruisers and riding them downhill. A company originally comprised of Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly in 1979 was the first company to specialize in modifying cruisers for use as mountain bikes. They would use components for touring bicycles, some motorcycle parts like brake levers and handlebars and turn bicycles such as the Schwinn Excelsior (Fisher's first "mountain bike"). This company was called "MountainBikes". The first production mountain bike, and what most resembles what we know a mountain bike to be today, would be the Specialized Stumpjumper released in 1981. Specialized was a company that evolved from Fisher and Kelly's "MountainBikes" when they brought on famous frame builder Tom Ritchey to build a frameset specifically for the use of mountain biking. There's actually one of these original Stumpjumper bicycles on display at the Smithsonian.