This week sees Elite announce the third generation of their Direto direct drive interactive smart trainer.
Technically there was another one in the mix but back in
2018 with the Direto 2 that was only what was bundled within the box that changed, the technology did not. So let's roll with
generation three with this one. Look, rolling back a little bit in
2017 Elite made a big impact on the direct drive mid-range market with the Direto.
It was cheaper than the premium models. It was quite accurate with the OTS power sensor. It was quiet and it just worked.
It's what everybody wanted in the market, without the premium price tag!
The Direto did very, very well. Along came the Direto X last year in 2019 with a slight refinement in the specifications.
And today we see an even further improvement on those specifications with the Direto XR
Here's a quick summary of what's changed over the generations and what's new today.
Power accuracy: The original Direto (was) plus or minus two percent.
Typically, it was better than that.
But plus or minus two percent on the official spec sheet. Direto X, plus or minus 1.5%
Direto XR Plus or minus 1.5 with the OTS.
Maximum slope: We can see there a big improvement from 14% on the Direto, 18% Direto X
And 24% on the Direto XR, indicating it has a lot more braking strength on the newer models flywheel size.
We see a move up from 4.2 kilos in the two previous generations to 4.5 kilos with the generation three Direto XR.
Now the move up in weight is a seven percent increase give or take and Elite do report
The moment of inertia has increased by 15. What does that mean?
Well, hopefully a better ride feel on the pedals. The Direto X and XR come sans a fan internally.
So they've redesigned that to keep it cool without having a fan inside.
Today the Direto XR also comes pre-installed with a cassette
So an 11-speed Shimano or equivalent and comes pre-assembled, so setup time should be a breeze.
In a nutshell. That's what's new today!
But let's dive into all of the details.
Okay full specifications here of the Direto XR direct drive interactive smart trainer
So rear wheel comes off. Bike compatibility: quick release 130/135 with native through axle 12 x 142
Adapters and everything are included in the box
Cassette as mentioned comes pre-installed which is a Shimano/SRAM compatible 11 speed cassette. The free hub is a Shimano hyper glide
But aftermarket options are available for XD/XDR,
MicroSpline and Campagnolo
Supported connections: everything you can think of so ANT+ gives you speed, power, and cadence. ANT+ FE-C, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Smart FTMS
The power accuracy: As already mentioned plus or minus 1.5 with the optical torque sensor power meter. Calibration spin down via My E-Training app
However, I have put this trainer to the test this week.
I have NOT performed a spin down. I wanted to put the "out of the box" (it) just works experience to the test.
So that's what I've done. Grade simulation 24%
Max wattage 2300 watts at 40k an hour. As mentioned again, the flywheel weight in size 4.5 kilos increased weight and increased moment of inertia
Better pedal stroke. We'll see that in a moment. When it comes to sound levels I'd call this trainer a quiet trainer.
It's not silent.
But it's definitely not obnoxious in any way. Power source: mains power
Firmware upgradeable via the Elite Upgrado app
A front wheel riser block is included and the extras you get 12 months Elite My E-Training subscription and one month bonus of Zwift.
Okay, that's all the technical specifications covered. Onto the financial specifications of this unit.
So pricing US around 950. Canadian 1300
Euros 849. 824 Pounds and in Aussie dollars, you're looking at around 1400 dollars
Given the Direto XR comes fully assembled. This process should be nice and fast.
Let's have a quick look at the documentation here. All looks straightforward. And yeah, I think we've got it sorted. Yep. Okay, cool.
As with all new Elite smart trainers, it comes with an extended length power cable. Always a welcome addition.
And unboxing this thing is very, very easy. Box on the side. You slide it out
Take the plastic off everything
We lock the legs in place
We put in the required adapters. Now I'm using a 142 x 12 through axle, so screwing that adapter in
And same for the other side. I do note they both pivot each side!
Power cable goes in
And we wrap that around a little
Secure spots there. Next thing, once everything is plugged in and ready to go (which didn't take long at all), opening the Upgrado app
Connecting via Bluetooth with the iPhone here
And there is a firmware to update. So we'll hit go on that and I'll speed this up.
This does take a few minutes, but definitely worth doing before you get everything else set up.
Okay, and we are done. Success. Next up, bike goes on, through axle goes in.
And if I'm quiet for a few seconds now, you'll hear how loud the trainer is compared to the drivetrain.
The changing of the gears was definitely noisier than the trainer itself.
So with the unit built
It has been put through its paces quite heavily in the Lama Lab. Now that's included my own personal training sessions.
In the last few weeks Lama Lab testing obviously and a ton of sim mode free riding on Zwift collecting Those route badges.
Now straight off the bat. I will say if I had to choose any direct drive smart trainer from Elite
For my riding, it would be this one here. I had no problems at all with the responsiveness on Titan's Grove.
Which is a good sim mode gradient test
It stresses any trainer and its ability to change the gradient what you see and what you feel
Erg mode was a lot smoother than any previous model that I've ridden
And the power numbers were good, so it ticks all the boxes there.
Look the Direto XR as mentioned
It's not silent, but it is not in any way loud
You can hold a conversation while riding at around 300 watts
And any fan worth having there in your pan cave is going to be a lot louder than this trainer itself.
The ride feel, the actual on the pedal experience,
I think it's a little better given that heavier flywheel and what Elite called the improved moment of inertia
and that was really evident in the erg mode testing that I did and speaking of, let's look at these power numbers
and that erg mode performance now.
As always here we are on my favorite website on the internet the DC Rainmaker Analysis Tool.
Where we can compare multiple power meters as an overlay and see how the data stacks up.
My own personal training session here. Five by five. It's always a good go-to session.
Numbers looking good.
Now the first thing that jumps out at me with any trainer that is not accurate is you're looking at a 5, 10, 15 watt discrepancies
across the board and they really do stand out now.
I'm not using any smoothing here
So it does look a little rough, but it gives us a good indication of what's going on. So straight out of the box
No calibration, just how does it ride?
the numbers are stacking up pretty well. One thing I will note with this trainer
Could be attributed to how cold it is in the Lama Lab at the moment.
It takes around two minutes for the trainer to start equaling the other two power meters that I had on the bike.
As I said, it's middle of winter here in Australia, so it has been pretty cold.
But after two minutes things start lining up even without that spin down calibration performed.
So I'll ignore the warm-up for now, we'll jump straight into the five by fives.
This is all in erg mode and you can see there... look it is looking quite rough, but that is with zero smoothing.
So that's actual raw power and the numbers we have across the Quarq D Zero, Direto XR,
And the Assioma duo's are all within that few percent.
So within one or two watts there. Looking good. Ignoring the dropouts there with the recording devices
You can see it gets a little rough there right at the end.
That's me on the pedals. The Elite trainers always reward a smooth pedal stroke.
For me coming off that 300 watts erg session there and then dropping down to 150w
I probably sat up and grabbed the phone. I wasn't smooth on the pedals. It jumps up and down
And near the end of that 150 zone there. I'm a lot smoother on the pedals and the numbers look pretty good
So happy days for that one. Next up, quite a long SIM mode ride on Zwift. This was the big loop.
I think it was all in SIM mode again there. Nothing stands out. Everything is lining up quite well.
After that initial little warm-up here. So just out of interest sake we can jump in here
We can see the blue line there the Elite Direto XR
In the first few minutes just a little lower just a bit
And then things start lining up as expected plus or minus a few percent on the power meters and the trainer. Everything lines up.
So I can just select a slab here: 200, 197, 200w. All looking good.
Nothing dropping out or nothing jumping up out of the ordinary there and
Given the randomness of that ride. It's all looking pretty good.
And finally the ultimate test the Lama Lab Test, which I hope everyone is across now.
So a lot of steady state testing, a sprint, some over and unders, and a flywheel speed test.
So after the warm up there into the standard steady state 200 watts, 250 watts into a sprint.
We'll select that section through here looking very, very good.
No separation. Everything tracks quite well, no real wave forms happening there.
It's just me being smooth enough on the pedals to keep everything happy and the power numbers looking happy too.
So 223, 224, 225w all within that range of where they should be and it's all good news there.
Just as previous generations did, the Direto XR will report cadence without an additional cadence sensor and we can see right here
It's all looking ballpark 93, 94, 92 for the two power meters and the Direto XR all at the same time.
So that's looking good there for cadence
After the steady state it's into the sprint and the numbers are looking pretty good there too now
It's up to me to try and hold that sustained sprint power for 8 to 10 seconds. I couldn't do that at the moment
So it's only a short sprint there, but the numbers spike up as they should
No sustained sprint from me, but everything looks pretty good there for a direct drive smart trainer.
The next part of the Lama Lab Test is the 20 sec over and under so we have 20 seconds at 150w, 350, 150, 350, 150, 450
a couple of times so we can see here what this tests is the ability for a trainer to change from
A certain set point to the next. How quickly does that change? Is the power accurate? And can it hold that power?
That is looking really, really good.
Now what happens if a trainer takes a long time to change?
The resistance from a lower resistance to a higher resistance you get a trapezoid effect. So it slowly ramps up and then slowly ramps down
Quick example of that is right there
All right, no names mentioned
But that is a trainer that is unable to change resistance fast enough
For me to get a good 20 second interval so you can see that's really rounded off. That's not the Direto XR
That is. And that changes from 150 to 450w within a second or two. That was using Bluetooth on Zwift erg mode
And things look pretty good. So just a quick analysis of that rolling in here from 150w
Up to 350w again. Erg mode always rewards smoothness.
So if you can be as smooth as possible
That's where things work the best.
Up here into 350w down to 150 into 450 it overshoots just a little bit
But typically that's what erg always does. Stabilizes after a few seconds and away we go and you can see here again from 150
up to 450w stabilizers
And the power numbers and everything look pretty good there
for that trainer
And finally onto the newest part of the llama lab test
Which is the flywheel speed test where I set the trainer to 225 watts Erg.
I pedal at about 90 to 95 rpm and I change the gearing, so the flywheel speed.
You can see there early on, the low flywheel speed
Everything is fine. Holds a set point of 225 watts erg, no problems at all.
Power numbers are good
I change into the big ring a few (gears) down on the back. a few hardest to the flywheel speed just at around 30 km/ph.
and everything is good there. Not as stable
If I was to really nitpick, but still absolutely fine for training. Accuracy is good.
And then on the front big ring, 11 gear on the back.
Spin things up and a lot of trainers never pass this part of the test, and it's not a real big one
You should not be training erg mode in the 53-11.
Trainers just do not have that kind of working zone. So the flywheel speed there was around 45 kilometers an hour
It was unable to hold 225 watts erg, which is a relatively low power for that kind of flywheel speed
However, the power numbers were still pretty good
So not a fail there on this one at the end there because the power numbers were good
It's just simply identifying the working zone for the flywheel speed
You'll likely always come across tips for erg mode which say keep it in the small ring in the front and
Mid-range cassette at the back. What that does is it keeps most trainers within the correct working speed zone
for the flywheel to be able to apply the correct resistance for the erg set point. It gets a little technical. The takeaway is
Erg mode - small ring. You'll be good.
So in summary there after many rides on this many llama lab tests and a lot of my own personal training sessions
And then diving into the numbers
It's a pass for me on this one and I can use this trainer as a baseline comparison for other power meters.
Okay, before wrapping this one up. There are three things you should know about the Direto XR
First up: It has level adjustment feet
So hidden underneath each feet
Are little turn knobs and you can level things out if you're on uneven ground
Number two: If you're pairing to this unit for a speed sensor on a watch or another head unit
The manual wheel size needs to be set to 173mm
that's how Elite do things for you to get correct speed and
estimated distance for your indoor rides.
The third thing to know about the Direto XR is
It's the new top of the range from Elite
so substituting the Direto X and the Drivo 2 it becomes top of the range for the Elite lineup for winter 2020 and 2021.
Okay, wrapping this one up for today and it has been interesting to see what was the mid-range trainer step up to being top dog
Within the Elite lineup. My riding experience on the trainer and the data we've seen from the Lama Lab Test
It's more than suited for that position within their lineup. The out of the box experience with the cassette pre-installed, the unit already pre-built
Breaks down barriers and makes things very easy
If you were to purchase one of these pull it out of the box
Maybe pair it to an apple tv (no dongle's required)
The thing just works, and that is what people are after now.
It is worth noting that along with all these performance improvements, and a better out of the box experience comes a
Slight bump in the price from previous models. So you can't win them all!
Anyhow, there we are for today. A new trainer for 2020, the new top dog at Elite. Happy days!
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