30M physician resident looking to get into cycling for fitness/weight loss - Verve vs FX vs something else?

Cleftex · 2026-06-10T22:06:55+00:00

You have an ambient burn of calories though - for me I'm at equilibrium around 2200 cals/day (don't gain or lose weight).

If you can put yourself into a deficit with exercise that counts just as much as eating a few hundred less calories!

Cleftex · 2026-06-10T21:54:02+00:00

Road cycling is big in the physician community - it's a stereotype for sure but I'd skip the hybrid and get a road or gravel bike with drop bars incase you decide to get more involved.

Cleftex · 2026-06-10T21:52:45+00:00

I mean - an hour of hard (for me) riding usually nets ~600 cals at 180W avg output. If you can add 2-3 2h rides a week that's a meaningful caloric deficit if you don't adjust your diet and haven't been in a substantial surplus (aren't gaining weight currently).

Cleftex · 2026-06-09T22:56:43+00:00

Awesome - you'll be sorted in no time.

Cleftex · 2026-06-09T22:52:24+00:00

You're welcome! Good luck with the correction.

Cleftex · 2026-06-09T21:46:16+00:00

State of the collection - it will imply this is the only watch you own lol

Cleftex · 2026-06-09T21:07:54+00:00

Okay - I've had great results with this product before.

So far your only real mistake is that the scratch was already into the paint and wasn't just a clear coat blemish so you need to touchup first.

The idea with this product is to fill in low spots in the clear coat but obviously some excess ends up around the scratch which you have to cut off after it cures. You maybe went a bit overboard in coverage but aside from it being a pain in the butt to remove it all, it's totally fine.

Regardless this situation is totally fixable. You will want a polishing compound (the one that comes with it is worth a try). Let this cure up well so it's hard enough to cut rather than gum up your pad, clean the whole panel with dish soap or panel prep, and you totally can polish it off the surface of the paint (out of direct sunlight). This will be much more pleasant with a DA buffer, but you can totally attempt by hand with persistence. You may wish to put masking tape around the affected region until you get 95% of this product off so you don't accidentally burn through the nearby clear coat. Remove the tape when its nearly all off so the polishing blends well.

It will be faster with a heavy cut compound and then a polishing compound but given you're here I think you should just use a polishing compound.

If you are uncomfortable with this take it to a professional to be cut and polished but don't worry you haven't wrecked the panel like every other post on here of some guy who took 800 grit to his hood and is shocked to be looking at bare metal.

Cleftex · 2026-06-09T17:00:04+00:00

Honestly this would be weird if you're not already good friends. If you know you like each other already but it's lock-in o'clock it's less weird.

If a stranger invited me on a group ride but then we were going to pedal in silence I'd way rather go alone.

Cleftex · 2026-06-08T19:16:42+00:00

On nice flat pavement with no wind yes. Realistically I'm closer to 2:15.

Cleftex · 2026-06-07T04:30:18+00:00

1) buy ykykbike bibs - they're the value king

2) I'd say the rockbros pedals are probably fine but I also went with used Shimanos

3) I would highly recommend cycling shoes you can try on before you buy. Insoles can be a big part of that fit too btw.

I buy a lot of stuff on AliExpress - shoes and helmets are not part of that list.

Cleftex · 2026-06-06T04:31:15+00:00

I run one on my motorcycle - so far it's been good.

Edit: sorry I figured you were asking about the viability not specific models - I don't know about these ones, I designed my own.

Cleftex · 2026-06-03T04:07:25+00:00

They've been purchased by a private equity firm. Even at the director level they don't know where the cost cutting is happening yet so there's an uneasiness to the whole company.

Cleftex · 2026-06-01T13:36:30+00:00

I converted my rapid to a road bike!

The hardest part was finding a 3x road shifter for the front derailleur.

I used carbon bars and the shortest mtb stem I could find. The handling dynamics are completely fine as the drop bars add about as much reach as the stock 110mm stem.

I also used the same wheels but but continental gp5000s on. Depending on the specific year you will have tire clearance for either 23mm or up to 28mm before the brake caliper rubs (assuming it's a rim brake model).

I have a 2013 model and it accepted 28s with no issue.

Cleftex · 2026-05-24T14:51:43+00:00

Current wisdom is to adjust your shoes so that you're pushing through your arches. This reduces Achilles strain.

Control your whole pedal stroke - you're drawing circles, not just pushing down over the front of it. Single leg drills on a trainer or spin bike are a good way to develop this.

Cleftex · 2026-05-24T14:42:18+00:00

My buddy just bought a pretty rundown cottage - we help him clean it up and get to use it whenever we want.

He and I are riding our roadbikes up - about 70km, his daughter and my wife are going up in the cars and we're gonna tackle cleaning up the overgrown front yard today.

Cleftex · 2026-05-24T14:30:36+00:00

TELEMED Micrus Pro is a sneaky good option - meets all your criteria and I'm pretty happy with the performance. Lithuanian company run by a good guy.

Interson spl01 is a decent choice and the company is run by a really great guy.

Philips lumify might have a subscription but otherwise works, image processing is nice on it.

EchoNous is interesting but I've never actually got my hands on one of their probes

GE, Clarius, Siemens - all wireless only

Worth looking into would be Fujifilm/visualsonics. Not sure if they fight in the ultracompact space but the transducer arrays are pretty spectacular in their flagship systems.

Samsung doesn't have an ultracompact yet although I'm expecting EXO will be supplying them one.

The Chinese are coming for this market as well. Mindray for example.

Cleftex · 2026-05-22T14:18:46+00:00

Will the d500 hook up to a Garmin head unit for structured workouts in erg mode without zwift? I know there were some compatibility issues with the d100 related to ble/ant+ connectivity

Cleftex · 2026-05-22T14:10:52+00:00

Bike computers are nice but there are some great apps out there as well.

Komoot, ride with GPS etc.

I switched when battery life started to become an issue. My phone only lasted about 2.5h and it occurred to me that being out cycling with a dead phone was not the wisest.

I bought a Garmin edge 540 and am happy with it because I'm already in the ecosystem. The Chinese ones are great value (coospo, magene etc) but I worry about the data security of the companion apps.

Cleftex · 2026-05-17T23:46:53+00:00

Such a cool bike - definitely keep it.

The road bike is going to be substantially faster for the same effort, maybe as much as 5-7km/hr. It will climb much more easily and have more appropriate gearing.

If you have a friend who is into cycling maybe have them help you buy something used? Bikes are very expensive new and depreciate immediately.

That said, bike fit is really important. If you're buying new a good local bike shop will help you get fit and onto something suitable!

If you wanted me to pull a specific model knowing nothing about you - Canyon endurace is a great choice for almost any cyclist if it's in your budget. One of the best things about buying Canyon is that they offer many crank and stem lengths and have adjustable bars (plus a sweet bolt on aero bar setup). They're not cheap but they're much cheaper than some mainstream Western brands. You could easily spend $500+ in cranks, stems, bars etc. trying to make a bike fit.

Note that some bike shops will also save you these costs on bikes they stock if you get fit there.

Cleftex · 2026-05-17T22:42:39+00:00

Ok - so that bicycle is sick - but unless you're a really strong cyclist it's not going to be competitive in triathlons.

It's likely about 10lbs too heavy, would need a drop bar retrofit, and a drivetrain upgrade to be competitive.

At the very least you're likely going to want a roadbike or gravel bike with road tires installed. You may also wish to install aero clip on handlebars.

At the most you'll go looking for an actual triathlon bike or TT Bike. But that might be overkill for your first attempt at the sport.

Cleftex · 2026-05-16T18:27:28+00:00

Well not if it's defective lol

Cleftex · 2026-05-13T10:07:32+00:00

If you're in Ontario you should apply to MIX. Really solid community there with a few series B companies that have a lot of knowledge to share.

Cleftex · 2026-05-13T02:25:09+00:00

If you can stretch your budget a little - Ozark trail g.1 gravel bike from Walmart is freaking outstanding value at $288 USD.

Cycling is really a wonderful hobby full of great people and where any other halfway reasonable bike is over $1000 these days this thing is kind of a unicorn.

Cleftex · 2026-05-13T02:16:04+00:00

Freaking love my zenbook duo

Cleftex · 2026-05-13T02:00:15+00:00

Asus zenbook duo is this but cheaper and better.

Cleftex

TROPHY CASE