Ozark Trail 700C G.1 Explorer Gravel Bike 1000 mile updated thoughts.

1000 Miles of Riding the Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer Gravel Bike

I have ridden this bike for 1000 miles according to my Strava logs so I figured it was time to update my thoughts on the bike and go over some of the things I still like about it and some of the things I don't like about it. I would rather give my summary upfront and then explain the rest later on so if you want to read the details you can but if not then just read the summary. It is a good bike even after 1000 miles I had not had issues with it that hinder my ability to ride it. I would buy another if this one broke or something else happened to it. I also see this as a perfect starter bike or a bike to have as extra such as when friends come over. Now the summary quick thoughts are over lets get into the detials on things. 

The Wheels and Tires

The tires are one of the first things I had little hope for when I started riding this bike. They are kenda tires but the bike is 250 dollars so they would not be good tires right? Well 1000 miles later and the tires are still just as good as when I took the bike out of the box. I have had to add air here and there a little more than my other bike that costs a bit more but losing air is somemthing that just happens. Its not like it was full one day flat the next it was more like after a week of riding it would be down 5 PSI or something like that. Aside from the air top off being needed aa little bit more than I am used to the tires are still grippy and hold the gravel and the road just fine. I am much more than happy with the quality on the tires. 

The wheels that the tires are attached to are okay. The rims do not have any dents even though I ride it like I ride my mountain bike. I do not shy away from bunny hopping over a curb, or going down a stair case for fun. With that the wheels are not dented or bent BUT they are very slightly out of true. Now I will be honest about the fact I do not know if that is normal for a gravel bike because I used to ride mountain bikes and BMX bikes years ago and they would go out of true every so often too but I always knew it was my fault for doing something a bit stupid with them. Again I was not gentle with the Ozark Trail Gravel bike but I have not done anything stupid that would knock the wheels around much. After looking at the wheels I am sure I could fix this with tightening the spokes. I do not have a working spoke wrench or a truing stand so I am going to just ignore it for now. Its not like they are wobbling all over the place its more just very ever so slightly out of true. 

Shifting and Braking

First thing with the shifting is the front derailleur snapped after like a week of owning the bike. I mentioned this in my prior blog post and I was upset about it and thinking about buying a new one. Well I decided to let it ride and just go with it as it continued to shift just fine. After 1000 miles it stil shifts just fine with no problems there but I do have a problem that has come up where I am going to need to replace it. In the highest gear in the back and the front it rubs. In the lowest gear in the back and lowest in the front it rubs. There are other gears in between where it rubs too and not normal cross chained gears such as high front high in back. This makes the bike a bit loud and it is going to wear my chain out much quicker than it should. With things still shifting fine and knowing that it is going to cause me problems later I will keep it on there as is and see how long it takes to cuase more issues. This might sound silly but again 1000 miles and it was like that for almost the whole time why not see how it goes? 

The back derailleur is still going strong with no signs of wear happening. I adjusted it a bit after the broke front derailleur and it has stayed working with those adjustments. I left the dork disk on still and it is looking awful after being covered in dirt, mud, and chain wax... Leaving the dork disk on is more just because I am too lazy to take it off same with the reflectors in the spokes I just could not care.  I have not had the chain fall behind the cogs on the hub and I trust that I got the settings for the derailleur limits right so its useless. I wanted to mention the dork disk because if the limit screws on the back derailleur were not set right it could easily fall into the spokes or off the front and into the frame of the bike and none of that has happend at all. The back derailleur is doing a wonderful job. 

The shifter and brakes levers on the handlebars are still working well too. They have no issues chainging gears or putting on the brakes. Each 250 miles or so I do have to make sure the brakes are set properly in the back but its not like the levers are not stopping the bike they are working and pulling just fine they just end up a bit loose. Nothing outside of the normal just a note that the brakes seem to get loose fairly quick. I have not had to tighten the cables yet just adjust the pads in the back. 

Now the main issue with the bike out of the box and still something I would tell anyone buying this bike... Replace the brake pads the ones that come on the bike are trash. I had to replace those after 500 miles and I should have done that sooner. They were squeeky and just did not stop the bike right at all. The new brakes pads I put on after 500 miles are still stopping the bike just fine and other than adjusting them because I like the levers to be tighter they are fine. There is not enough bad things to say about the brake pads that came on the bike so again replacing those is a must. I did not replace anything else the rotors, the levers, the cables, and everything else other than the pads came with the bike. No issues with any of those parts such as the rotors are still true and there is no annoying rubbing sounds when riding. 

Drivetrain

The drivetrain is still working as expected. There are no major issues with the cranks, pedals, or the hub. I have in the past had cheap bikes start to skip around when trying to pedal under pressure such as trying to go up hill in a higher gear or trying to go fast. This bike has not done anything weird with the cogs skipping. I still have the stock pedals on and those could use replacement but its not something I am running out to do right away. They do not have issues they are just plastic and I have had a few pedal strikes when trying to get KOMs and turning too fast while keeping the wrong pedal down... With that though they are working fine just beaten up a bit and that is my own fault. I will have to take a look at the bottom bracket soon though. It is not having issues and is moving around just fine but it just feels like it needs a little servicing. To be more clear it feels a touch rougher when cranking the pedals than it did when I first got the bike. Its not something I think is a problem I just think that I rode the bike in the rain and dirt and did not care much and I see lots of dust around it so with it feeling a little rougher I assume it needs service. With that being said I do not know that for sure unless I took a look at it and that is something I have not had time to take apart and I do not think its that bad. Its not moving around left or right when riding its just rougher. 

Other thoughts 

I have been planning to ride the Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer Gravel Bike for a 100 mile ride so I have ben testing out racks and packs to see what I like on it. I want to make sure I have enough water and food to keep on the road and get the 100 mile ride done in one day. I bought a rack that screwed into the bike and the bike has all the holes for it. Well that first rack broke and stripped the screwhole for racks. I tried to fix that but its not something that is fixable and its a little annoying to me. After looking it looks like the frame just had some sloppy screw holes. There are other places to mount things and looking at those holes they have threads but are filled with paint and things like that. Getting a screw in a threaded but painted hole is going to be something so I am not going to try that agian and I am going to end up using other methods to mount things to the bike. Some of these little issues don't present themselves until you have ridden the bike for a while and you try to make your ride easier which is why I did not notice this in my first review of the bike, I just did not know it was a probem. If you buy this bike look out for defects when you are going over the bike for the first time. Not just welds and or other frame issues but look for things that you might not think like are the screw holes stripped and could you get a water bottle cage mounted properly?

Like I have said in the quick summary in the first paragraph I still like this bike I would still recommend it to someone looking for a bike who is unsure of if they like to cycle. I also still stand by the fact that this bike is a better option than some of the used market bikes and I stand more firm on that after looking at used bikes in my area and laughing at some of the offerings they had. Like sure I am going to buy a 15 year old trek with rim brakes for 500... I am not saying that all used bikes are bad but the buyer for the Ozark Trail bikes might not know what they are looking at when the go to buy something used and might end up getting something that is a mess and not a good deal when they could have got something new and more modern for cheaper. There still is the issue about walmart building the bike and it having problems on the rack but still you should check over a used bike too. I also still think that upgrading the bike is a bit not worth it. At least not until the parts are not working then upgrade them. I have ridden 1000 miles for 250 dollars plus some tax and 8 dollars for 8 brake pads. There are things I could upgrade but cost to miles of use with out upgrading shows it is not something you have to do. Another thing about upgrading is I just started getting strong enough to strat thinking about upgrading the front chain rings. I can top out the bike and a larger front chain ring would help me go a little faster. That might end up meaning replacing the whole back wheel, freehub, and going to a cassette in the back... All of this for some marginal speed gains. This is why I think the bike is good but not worth upgrading if I start to upgrade all those things I could just keep riding this one as is and save that money for a better overall bike. Buying parts to replace broken parts such as a new front derailleur seems fine to me because that is keeping the bike running not just upgrading for the sake of upgrading. I would say the same thing for getting something like new tires. Yes buy new tires and other things related to that just not major upgrade that will cost 200 dollars for minor gains. 

1000 miles later and this bike is my favorite ride at the moment. Cheap effective and I can ride it with out much care about braking it. I can not wait to ride it another 1000 miles. Anyway, I am off to continue the journey! Have a wonderful day and thank you very much for reading