Getting Ready to BIkepack with Walmart’s $248 Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer Gravel Bike

I received a great comment/question about Walmart’s $248 Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer (that name’s a mouthful!) on YouTube the other day:

“Just curious, if Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer is so revolutionary for the market at $248. Then what about Walmart’s two previous offerings, the Genesis Bohe and Mongoos Grit? What did they lack in comparison, if anything.”

And it got me thinking. I don’t have any experience with the other Walmart bikes mentioned, so I can’t really say how they ride. KevCentral did ride them (https://youtu.be/3BznYNzYi6k?si=1FgqVWfWP_GV0yhD) and was pretty complimentary of the Genesis Bohe, but he did say that the tires weren’t very good. And while it shares much of the same 2×7 drivetrain with the G.1, here are some of the differences that I noticed:

– G.1 Explorer has internal cable routing/Genesis Bohe has external cable routing
– G.1 Explorer has downtube cage mount (thanks to internal cable routing)/Genesis Bohe has just one bottle mount
– G.1 Explorer has fork pack mounts/Genesis Bohe does not
– G.1 Explorer uses Presta valve rims and tubes/Genesis Bohe uses Schrader valve rims and tubes
– G.1 Explorer is $248/Genesis Bohe was $348 when introduced, $248 now

A lot of these little features aren’t a big deal unless you plan on doing longer rides and trips. But even for short rides (in heat like we’re having now), it’s nice to be able to carry a second water bottle. I’ll be testing out the G.1 on an overnight trip soon and will be using the mounting points that the Genesis Bohe does not.

The $378 Mongoose Grit seems to be a closer comparison to the G.1 Explorer, with even more mounting points. But it’s over $125 more expensive than the G.1 Explorer. That may not be a lot of some, but it’s a lot (50% more!) for others.

What is fascinating to me is that the Mongoose Grit, which is much less expensive than other, “proper” gravel bikes (which often start at $1,000), did not get nearly as much attention as the G.1 Explorer is getting. Specwise, they’re pretty close. Buzzwize, they’re world’s apart. Either Walmart has done a better job of marketing the G.1 Explorer (I’m not sure if they sent test bikes to influencers; they didn’t send me mine) or there’s something magical about the $248 pricepoint.

In preparation for my bikepacking trip, I loaded the G.1 Explorer up with bikepacking gear that I have and took it for a local spin. I wanted to make sure that the bike handled ok under load and that the gear stayed firmly attached to the bike. And, of course, I made a video about it.

Spoiler alert – mission accomplished; the G.1 Explorer handled the bikepacking gear just fine.. I am packing ultra-light because the planned route is hilly and the bike doesn’t have super low gearing – just 36 x 28 on the low end. That’s around 30 gear inches, which is just ok for unloaded riding in hilly terrain and definitely not low enough for four-pannier riding on hilly terrain. For fully loaded riding, I prefer around 20 gear inches, or even less if the roads are super steep (like they were last year in Andalucia, Spain).

The next video will be the trip itself. Thanks for tuning in and subscribing.

I am comfortable with drop bar so and I’m trying to ride the bike as purchased um all the components stock this year and just to see a if they hold up B if they are suitable for the kind of riding I’m doing all right this is uh what I’m going to bring on the bike packing trip this is a uh salsa I’ve got a salsa anything cage plus a salsa bag mounted to the fork on one side I’ve got a water bottle cage on the other side I’ve got an outer shell uh handle bag harness holding a salsa bag on the front there’s the outer shell there is how it’s holding it I’ve got the REI uh frame bag and I’ve got an or Le tail bag along with a zepl toolbox another salsa side mount cage I have a lot of salsa wasn’t on purpose but this is where we roll and I’ve got a chrome um they call that a feed bag so I think I’m pretty much kitted I have a couple other things to carry the salsa uh Fork Mount is going to carry my kitchen stove and uh you utensils and um cup and coffee this is my sleeping bag no this is my tent um I’m going to try to fit my sleeping pad in there too this is my 40° sleeping bag um yeah I got to add one more thing here and uh we’ll see how it does on a 40 m bike packing trip so far on this test run it’s done okay um nothing has fallen off and uh props literally props to the kickstand um it is adjustable so I lengthened it in order to support the extra weight so I want to see how this gear and my strapping of this gear is working out [Music] yeah woo