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WHICH HOME TRAINER SUITS YOU BEST?
Selecting and purchasing a home trainer often needs careful consideration. There are many different bicycle home trainer models on the market - at a glance, they might all look the same, if not downright identical. Specifically, Elite offers a wide range of home trainers - more than ten - and choosing the one that best suits the needs of the customer might require a bit of thinking.
This page will guide you through all the information you need to understand which home trainer works best for your bicycle workouts.
You'll have a view of all the distinctive features of our home trainers, what differentiates them and their advantages that can help you reach your fitness goals. In order to help you to do so, we compared the most performing models in our range, each with their own fundamental qualities. You'll find key info on the difference between home trainers and rollers, wheel-on and direct drive trainers, interactive and smart home trainers.
We listed some of their key points in order to guide you through purchasing one of them: among them, their compatibility with different bicycle models, how quiet they are, whether they have adapters included or not, their size, power and accuracy.
What you need to ask yourself is this: "What do I want to achieve with my home trainer workouts?"
Rollers are very useful to train both indoors and outdoors. This is why they're among the most used in the pre-competition warm up phases. As they are light and foldable, they have a small footprint and are very easy to transport.
"Classic" home trainers are ideal for those who want to train their resistance at home, with no need for high connectivity. Their internal resistance is what differentiates them. Bicycle home trainers with fluid resistance are marked by how fluid it is to pedal on them, while the magnetic resistance ones let you easily adjust resistance levels.
"Smart" (non-interactive) home trainers are perfect if you're looking for accuracy and effectiveness, but also connectivity, thanks to the many workout apps available online.
Connectivity is managed by the Misuro B+ sensor, which sends Power, Speed and Cadence data to your devices, helping you autonomously manage your progress and performances.
"Interactive" home trainers are ideal if you're looking for intense and fun workouts. Interactivity lets you bring your workouts one step forward. The immediate resistance adjustments and truly fluid pedaling are perfect to work out like a pro!
Roller, wheel-on or direct drive. Which one to pick?
To find out what's better for you, the first step is to understand the difference among the various models of Elite home trainers and rollers.
Rollers are more essential, stripped-down home trainers. No assembly required and usually no connections to set up. They're ideal to put in your car and take them with you to events and competitions just like the pros do.
Thanks to rollers, your pedaling and balance improve daily.
On wheel-on home trainers the rear wheel leans on the unit roller. They're perfect for those who alternate indoor workouts with outdoor activity.
Most Elite wheel-on home trainers feature a quick clamping system to rapidly fasten your bicycle to the home trainer.
The Elastogel-material roller improves tire adherence and reduces noise and wear.
One of the distinctive features of wheel-on home trainers is the complexity of their units. The range of wheel-on home trainers for bicycles varies from classic to interactive ones.
Direct-Drive home trainers are what's hot right now. On Direct-Drive home trainers the rear wheel is removed and the chain is coupled directly to the cassette, previously installed on the home trainer.
This is how you avoid slippages at any speed and power output. It is also more accurate.
Another fundamental feature of the direct-drive bicycle home trainer is how quiet they are, much more that rollers and wheel-on home trainers.
Classic, Smart or Interactive. Which one to pick?
Let's find out about home trainers differences based on their unit and connectivity.
Classic home trainers are easy to install and use, while retaining great effectiveness with their performances.
It's the best choice for those with a limited budget that still want structured and quality workouts.
The best thing about the classic wheel-on is how easy they are to setup, use and transport.
Conversely, smart home trainers wirelessly send data to other softwares and devices. This is how you can easily check on your performances, plan your workouts and reach your goals.
Interactive home trainers, unlike smart ones, have both incoming and outcoming communications with the various training apps that will manage resistance.
It's what you choose if you want to combine accuracy and fun while working out.
Elite interactive home trainers stand out for their captivating design but also for their unmatched accuracy when measuring power output.
I have chosen, I want an interactive home trainer. What's better, the Direto XR or the Suito?
In the next paragraph, we shall make an in-depth analysis of 2 of Elite most important interactive home trainers, Direto XR and Suito.
They're both direct-drive and deliver great pedalling feeling and accuracy from the get-go.
Their electronically managed resistance is magnetic as it wirelessly connects to your device (ANT+ or BLE Smart) and adjust resistance on the basis of the pre-set course, be it GPS or one of the Zwift courses.
Both models deliver very high power output levels as they can simulate really steep gradients.
Direto XR is our top of the range this year, standing out compared to the Suito for better accuracy (1.5% against 2.5%), higher gradient simulation (24% against 15%) and higher power output.
However, the biggest difference is represented by the presence of the integrated OTS power meter inside the Direto XR.
The OTS - Optical Torque Sensor - measures the effective power output in order to offer highly accurate workouts.
The Suito, even though it presents slightly inferior technical features, is appreciated for how compact it is.
We like to call Direto XR and Suito as "plug and play" trainers since their legs and a 11s cassette are pre-assembled, thus drastically reducing installation times.
Both the Direto XR and Suito are compatible with most road and mountain bikes models, including carbon ones, and are used by the best pro teams, both on the road and off the road.
Choose the Direto XR if you want the great accuracy of a power meter, while for great ease and convenience Suito is the the one you want.
I have chosen, I want an interactive home trainer. What's better, Suito or Tuo?
Say you're looking for an entry level home trainer. You don't need the top-of-the-range. You're not yet ready to face gradients that are more than 15%.
No problem, the choice is between Suito and Tuo.
They're both interactive and manage resistance electronically by wirelessly connecting to a computer, tablet terminal or smartphone.
However, they also have significant differences from a technical standpoint, starting from how they're configured, which is wheel-on for the Tuo and direct transmission for the Suito. They also have a different design, footprint, weight and materials.
Suito is an absolute Plug-and-play gem as it's ready to use right away thanks to its minimal installation times. It's the perfect first interactive home trainer.
Tuo, however, has an incredible design and offers very high performance levels.
Its contemporary elegance is noticeable while you're using it but also when it's folded."
It has an aluminum structure with steel frame and beechwood legs.
If you want a compact and ready to use home trainer, Suito is the one for you. If you want advanced functions with Italian design, Tuo is the one for you.
Smart or Interactive, Suito or Turno
High interactive Connectivity, that is bidirectional, does not have to be a decisive factor when working out... For instance, the pedaling might be one.
Let's take a look at these two models, Suito and Turno.
They both have direct transmission, so they're perfect for those who want max pedaling roundness and quiet, stable and accurate workouts.
Suito is an interactive home trainer that wirelessly connects to your devices to manage resistance electronically, which will vary automatically based on the workout, map or Zwift course you selected.
Turno does not interact bidirectionally with the software - it's more concentrated in recreating realistic outdoor pedaling thanks to its fluid resistance. It also delivers an accurate calculation of power through a dedicated algorithm. It's practical when you need to balance rhythm, time and intensity of your workout.
If you want comfort, interactivity and quick installation, Suito is the home trainer for you. If however you want a road-like feeling, Turno's fluid technology suits you best.
Guide Courtesy: Elite Trainers, Italy - our channel partners in serving cyclists with the finest indoor trainers.
Checkout Cycling Boutique's latest collection of Indoor Trainers here
