Trying to find a decent, cheap, large drop bar bike seems to be a challenge. I’m not sure if I’d regret the Ozark or not. I do want to find something of better quality, but my patience is running thin. Sometimes these low end Treks pop up for $200-400 and I don’t know which I would enjoy more.
by Just_Lime985
15 Comments
Ozark trail sounds like Walmart trash. Would go for Trek
The YouTube reviews on the ozark trail tempt me on it even if it is 29 pounds
Trek, not close. This Ozark bike looks like dogshit. That’s a Trek 1000 SL, it’s at-most 23 pounds. You’re gonna be a lot faster on the Trek.
I know that the Ozark Trail gets better reviews than other WalMart trash, and it may very well deserve them, but I wouldn’t trust the assembly of a single component (wheels and brakes especially) until a qualified mechanic went through it. And even then, it wouldn’t instill any pride of ownership whatsoever.
I’m so sick of the ozark trail Walmart astroturfing.
Get the trek.
I’ve had the Ozark. We got a dud (couldn’t get the brakes to work right so returned it for a trek for double the price), but the vast majority are highly praised and I can understand it. Walmart is owned by a bike family who knows where to skimp and where to save so they make decent bikes for the price. You understand going in that you’re getting a low end bike, but at least it is low end in the right places. Go into it knowing what you are getting and you’ll be okay, assuming you know how to put it together and adjust it safely. I didn’t find it too heavy at all, but I’m coming from hybrid bikes. I just last night placed an order with Bikesdirect dot com which seems to be pretty highly regarded. Maybe look there instead.
Nobody needs tire clearance and mechanical disc brakes for paved paths. The Trek will serve you much better, though people will scoff at it because everyone’s going on about these new features that aren’t going to improve riding at that level, certainly not on a bike that, in the end, is offering you the bottom of the barrel in every component.
I paid $200 for that exact Trek like 15 years ago. You should be able to negotiate a good deal down.
Trek all day. Very serviceable. Very durable and trustworthy. It’s still here after 20 years in good shape.
I’m a professional mechanic and I’m working on the Ozark trail bike right now. Putting a new drivetrain on it and the bike is 6 months old. New drivetrain and labor is $280.
You said “large drop bar bike,” how tall are you? If you’re looking for a large bike, neither one of these appear appropriate.
Just found a salsa journeyman for 400.00$ stock everything but the pedals. I would have gotten in trouble. But my partner told me if it is available next month It is mine.
https://preview.redd.it/cyvcsows0rdf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abc9af01ccce3653990d619787d680cb2f9a4df9
I owned a drop bar G1 Explorer for about a year and had a ton of fun riding it across town to the paved bike paths at the beach. The only reason I got rid of it was that I recently got a mini-velo so the G1 Explorer had to go.
* It is significantly heavier compared to my road bike but it never really bothered me since I didn’t do much climbing with it.
* The Ltwoo brifters/front mech along with the tourney rear mech weren’t great but they got the job done.
* My main issue were the brakes as the bike comes with crappy single-piston calipers with crappy pads. As-is, they worked okay I guess but I also commuted with this bike and had issues braking once loaded up. I ended up replacing them with cable-actuated hydraulic calipers along with compression-less brake housing which worked fantastic.
* At delivery, I noticed that one of the stem bolts were sheared off so I’d double check all the bolts if you do go with this.
Ozark all day. That trek is ancient and was low end when it was new.
Trek all day
That is a sub $100 trek. I would still go with the trek 100%. You can buy a vastly superior bike for half the price of the Ozark. Even older shimano low end components are way better than the components offered on a Walmart bike.