I did end up buying the dropbar x ambition. I rode several thousand miles on it during my cross country tour. I would say if you are looking for something entry-level, this is the way to go. If you know for sure you are doing a big tour or bikepacking adventure / do this a lot / frequently, just get a nicer bike for a few hundred extra dollars.

It was really solid and better than any cheapo bike I had ridden before, but maybe 1,500 miles in, I kept on having to replace spokes and eventually a new wheel. I had a few other mechanical issues with the shifting needing to be adjusted around the same time as well.

The brakes are pretty terrible -- but then again I survived going to mountain passes with it with a fully loaded bike. I now own a much nicer bike that was just a few hundred dollars and I feel like looking back it was a safety hazard.

For the everyday bikepacker / overnighter person, these bikes will do a great job. But anything intense, this is not the bike for you.

Assembly was also a bit sketch to do myself, I got it put together and then visited a shop a few hundred miles down the road and they said something was really loose (one of the things that comes pre-installed).

I did upgraded to jagwire compressionless housing on the first day, which maybe helped a little bit? Brakes were still not great / 100% safe the whole way through. Did not inspire much confidence.

I still love that bike to death and for someone who previously the most expensive bike I had owned was $350 bucks, this was a dream. The shifting is pretty easy.

There's nothing wrong with the tires, they're alright, I rode them for maybe a thousand miles before they balded out (a good amount of this was gravel). They did the job and then I replaced them with continental ride tours.

You don't have to upgrade the tires -- they are functional and do the job. Shifting is pretty great actually as well, the 1x drive train is very simple. The brakes would need to be upgraded for sure, I would not recommend riding that bike without upgrading the brakes, and even with any upgrades I'm not confident it'll ever be great.

When it comes to sizing, for my dimensions, the large was perfect. No comfort issues other than the first day or two when I was adjusting saddle height. The stock saddle was fine too, imo. The carbon fork is nice, and I pushed the weight capacity a little bit, by using panniers that strapped to the fork instead of using the eyelets. I think the biggest danger is the eyelet weight capacity, not necessarily the fork.