Ok, we’re almost to the recommendations. But we need to all be on the same table when it comes to some of the technical terms that we’re going to talk about. Notably, the protocols and communications side of how trainers talk to apps. Tuo is a smart interactive home trainer that interacts with any kind of apps, software, computers, and devices (smartphones and tablets) with iOS, Android, OSX, and Windows. Again, it’s not hard. And if you simply follow my four steps above, you’ll be up and running in no time. The Basics:

I’ve included an audio section in the video at the top of this post. As well as a bit of a discussion on vibrations, which can be pretty meaningful here. But again, a better choice, if both of those are of concern, is a direct-drive trainer. Turbo trainers have adjustable resistance to make it easier or harder to push around the pedals. With wheel-on trainers, this is achieved through friction between the rear wheel and the roller. In most cases, such as with the Tuo, magnetic resistance adjusts this and can be controlled with a handlebar mount on standard models. Given the Elite Tuo is a smart trainer, it’ll change resistance automatically in a few different ways, primarily driven by different applications/methods. But most of this all boils down to two core methods: Tuo kommunikerer via Bluetooth og Ant+, og virker med alle apps på iOS, Android eller Windows systemer. Alle gængse træningsprogrammer som f.eks. Zwift, TrainerRoad, Sufferfest, Kinomap mm. understøttes, hvor til den sender effekt, hastighed og kadence data. Det er også muligt at benytte Elites egen E-training software. Now between this and the Elite Suito, it’s a tough call. It’s basically a wash price-wise once you factor in the required cassette. Form-factor the Suito wins because it can fold its legs for storage (and it actually has a handle, versus carrying around the Flux is miserable). Though the Flux is a bit beefier in terms of stability. Also, I feel like the Flux has slightly better inertia than the Suito, though I also think the Flux sounds a bit more ‘rough’ than the Suito does (a bit more gravelly, if that makes sense). But again, minor differences one way or another.With the heaviest flywheel on the test, the Flux S also comes in as the heaviest trainer overall. Couple that with its unique footprint and you’ve got an incredibly stable platform – I’d say even potentially a little more stable than its big brother, the Tacx Neo 2T, which I tested last year. Let’s switch gears and look at a few Zwift rides. For this first ride I was using the Titan’s Grove, which I’ve been using for quite a while now to test trainers. It’s a great route for that purpose as it includes flat and fast sections to test differing flywheel speeds, as well as climbing and rollers, where you can test trainer responsiveness and reactions within climbs. Below, you can see how the trainer matched up against the same set of power meters as the previous test. Here’s that data set: It is a real problem that can happen, and is essentially ignored by trainer makers. It leads to your issue, where people are completely unaware that misalignment is an actual possibility in the first place. Then they assume something is “broken” when there is simply a common adjustment necessary. The Elite Tuo has redefined for me what a wheel-on trainer can do with accuracy and aesthetics. I hope to see more like this from Elite — especially in the affordable rage. So far so good, but the flipside to this is that when riding in ERG mode and doing a session such as 20/40s or 10x1min – anything where there’s a big power differential – you can quite easily end up in something of a ‘death spiral’ of ever-increasing resistance as you struggle to spin your legs up to speed.

In any event, I find that the cross-over between people who really like riding rollers and the people who really like the technology aspect tends to be rather small. Said differently, roller people tend to be more purists who don’t want technology in the way (not all of course, but most). It’s been a long time since I’ve had to include a ‘setup’ section in a trainer review. A very long time. These days for many trainers you just take the trainer out of the box and you’re done, or at worst you have to attach legs and a cassette. And Elite’s other latest offerings are really the pinnacle of that, ready to use within 15 seconds. The general setup wasn’t complex, but the massive booklet made the process overly complicated. The explanation of terms is beyond what is actually needed and could easily frustrate or overwhelm first-time smart trainer users.This is something that’s true of all trainers to some extent, it’s generally a good idea to spin up your cadence just before entering those intervals to give yourself a bit of a buffer. But this was a particular issue for the Zumo – and was also a problem for the higher-end Direto that we tested last year, so it seems that this is a more general problem for Elite. Meanwhile, for Bluetooth Smart, there’s FTMS, which is basically the same thing as FE-C when it comes to trainers. It’s not quite as widely adopted yet by trainer companies, but is by app companies. On the trainer company side only Elite, Saris, and Kinetic support it across the board. With Tacx having it on some but not all units, and Wahoo having it on no units (but all Wahoo and Tacx trainers support private Bluetooth Smart with all major apps anyway). Each year Wahoo and Tacx say they’ll get around to adding it to their higher-end units, and each year they don’t (practically speaking though, it won’t impact your app usage, since all major apps support Tacx/Wahoo variants anyway). Likewise, the resistance and ride feel of this entry-level model is impressively close to that of Tacx’s flagship trainer. Changes in gradient were fast and smooth, whilst the resistance remained steady even when climbing at a low speed and low cadence – a challenging combination for a trainer. Still, Elite has had a bit of a rougher go of accuracy over the last few months in some of their newer products – so hopefully by the time Tuo arrives those tweaks are incorporated into the Tuo as well. This unit doesn’t have a power meter in it like the Direto/Direto X, but instead relies on algorithms akin to those found in the Suito and Zumo. Given I haven’t tested the Tuo with other power meters for accuracy (which is internally different than the Suito/Zumo), I can’t say whether or not it’ll be accurate.

Hey Ray. You might tweak the “entry level” units section – the wording seems identical to previous years’ where multiple trainers were on the list (“…this is the one category I don’t have a ton of riding time on either of those units. Both of them have been at trade shows or the like…”) but there’s only ONE on the list now. ANT+ FE-C (Trainer Control): This is for controlling the trainer via ANT+ from apps and head units (with cadence/power data). Read tons about it here. Now, if you’re riding race wheels with expensive race tires – you’ll have to balance the much higher cost of most race tires. There are some key steps to getting the Elite Toaster to work consistently from a power accuracy standpoint. Aside from pumping up your tire, in my experience the rest of the steps only need to be done once a month or so.First, the accuracy. Rated at ±3% this is the same as the Zumo. But it’s worth pointing out this doesn’t meet the ±2% cut-off for the upper echelons of Zwift racing. For most people, this isn’t a consideration – the majority of Zwift users aren’t racers, and it’s only a very small subsection of them who would be racing in those categories, but it’s worth being aware of. First though, note that this isn’t a review, and doesn’t even rise to the my classification level of “Hands-On”, though I did get handsy with it. Instead, I’m keeping it as “First Look” since my riding time is only briefly on a show-floor without any comparative data. This trainer is a bit behind the curve in terms of availability, so availability is looking like October to Europe, and either late October or early November for the US (due to on-water container ship times from Italy to the US). It sounds like I’ll have a unit in the next week or two, so expect a full in-depth review sometime in October and consider this a bruschetta sized appetizer till then. The Tech Details & Specs: Tuo er udviklet til cykelentusiaster, der bor i lejlighed, og ikke ønsker en industrielt udseende hometrainer stående fremme i boligen. Den er nem at folde sammen og flytte væk, når den ikke bruges, og er også meget dekorativ i sammenfoldet stand. With all those things covered, let’s get into the weeds on the accuracy of the Elite Tuo in terms of power. Power Accuracy Analysis: