Kona bikes are quite nice for the price, a lower-end one will do you nice as a starter. But if you want a decent bike on a realistic budget, you can always look for second-hand bikes. You get a lot of kids buying a fancy-ass bikes (especially jump bikes), grow bored and then sell them off for half price.
Personally, a good free-ride hardtail is probably your best bet at this point. Try and get one with more aggressive geometry (basically a low seatpost, sharp angle on the bottom tubing, straighter on top) but not so ridiculous you won't be able to crank the seatpost up high enough to ride comfortably. Pinkbike.com is a good place to start. Occasionally get some bargains.
Santa Cruz Chameleons (like this) are great allrounders and can do pretty much whatever you throw at them, but they can be a bit pricey (frame on it's own is £500 new). Orange hardtails are pretty solid but some are a bit too specialised for jumping. Then you've got Kona's and Specialized's and the like. I've been out of riding for the past couple years so not too hip on whats hot and whats not but you can't really go too far wrong with the bigger names.
Personally, a good free-ride hardtail is probably your best bet at this point. Try and get one with more aggressive geometry (basically a low seatpost, sharp angle on the bottom tubing, straighter on top) but not so ridiculous you won't be able to crank the seatpost up high enough to ride comfortably. Pinkbike.com is a good place to start. Occasionally get some bargains.
Santa Cruz Chameleons (like this) are great allrounders and can do pretty much whatever you throw at them, but they can be a bit pricey (frame on it's own is £500 new). Orange hardtails are pretty solid but some are a bit too specialised for jumping. Then you've got Kona's and Specialized's and the like. I've been out of riding for the past couple years so not too hip on whats hot and whats not but you can't really go too far wrong with the bigger names.
