Joined the Ozark Trail cult
Picked this up last month for use mainly as a commuter bike. These were sold out at damn near every Walmart near me, and it took a short road trip to finally get my hands on one lol. First impressions of it are pretty good, it really does perform much better than its price would suggest.
The only upgrades I've done so far (besides the rear rack) is a better seat post and a new stem. I got a $20 aluminum Kalloy seat post and it's a massive improvement over the stock steel one, which is SUPER heavy and has a terrible clamp. I also replaced the stem with a spare one I had lying around because when I went to adjust the handlebars after buying the bike, I noticed that one of the bolts on the stock stem was completely stripped out and had ruined the stem. The replacement is identical in length and angle to the original.
My next upgrade will probably be the tires. The stock Kendas are alright, but I think they're too thin to protect against goathead thorns which are super common here. I've gotten a puncture nearly every ride I've been on so far. Coming from tubeless MTB, it's getting really annoying having to patch my tubes every week lol.
I'm 5'5-5'6 and went with a medium (since it was the only size I could find in stock) and it does feel slightly too tall for me. Fortunately I have long arms, so the reach feels alright.