>>2040653

For that budget your best bet is to buy an old steel MTB from before they had shocks and fix it up. The Specialized from the 90s are the ones to get, they are some of the best mass market steel off-road frames ever made. And huge numbers of them were sold to people who never rode them. You can find them for 200-300 on CL where I live.

Many examples here:

https://bikerebuilds.com/search/specialized