Elite Direto XR smart trainer

Elite's Direto XR is a very solid smart trainer with accurate power. It's quiet and reliable, and it beats most of its direct competitors on price too.

A bit like the Wahoo KICKR, the Elite Direto XR has a metal frame with two legs that pivot out to support the bike. They lock in place with threaded knobs, and setting the Direto XR up takes basically no time at all, especially if you're on an 11-speed bike – there's an 11-28 cassette already fitted.

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Quick release and 12mm through axles are supported through interchangeable end caps, but there's no mechanism to raise or lower the cassette to simulate different wheels sizes.

You get the choice of Bluetooth and ANT+ connections as usual, and the trainer can be controlled by training apps over either protocol. I mostly used Bluetooth, because that's what my PC setup seems to prefer, but they both work just fine. Unboxing the trainer, setting up a bike and connecting it to the PC took less than ten minutes.

The Direto XR is easy to pack away too: the hinged legs fold away and it fits in a pretty small space. There's no carry handle, but it's easy enough to grab at the top of the flywheel and sling into a cupboard if you can't keep your trainer set up where you train. It's a bit lighter than most direct drive trainers, too.

Power: no real issues with accuracy

Elite claims (perhaps inevitably) the Direto XR is more accurate than its predecessor, with an error margin of +/- 1.5%, and that it can generate 2,300W of resistance and simulate a slope up to 24%. Those are top-tier numbers.

Even if you'll never trouble the maximum resistance - and I certainly won't - it means there's plenty of resistance for things like ERG workouts in the middle of the cassette.

Elite uses an optical torque sensor to measure power, and it's calibrated before it leaves the factory. Elite says the Direto XR is: "The only hometrainer in the world with the original Drivo, Drivo II, Direto and Direto X trainers to actually measure your power output via an integrated power meter," although I'm not really sure what this means.

Any trainer that can accurately transmit your power is, by definition, a power meter. And there are plenty to choose from.

Anyway, in time-honoured fashion I benchmarked the Direto against my Rotor 2InPower cranks, which I'm fairly sure from doing dozens of these tests are giving repeatable and accurate numbers.

Here's a session from Zwift, mostly in ERG mode with a bit of free riding and a sprint at the end. You can see that there's very little to choose between the two power traces, and the averages are within half a watt of each other.

I'd expect a power meter at the crank to read higher than one at the hub, because of drivetrain losses, so you could argue that the Direto XR is being very slightly optimistic overall, but it's certainly a believable power plot, no doubt about that.

Here's a close-up of a 2-minute interval at 350W. The Direto XR goes in a bit hard, but that's the same with all the recent trainers I've tried. It backs off, then goes back up again before it starts to find a level. It's not the most stable ERG mode I've tried – that's still the Tacx Neo 2 – but it's okay.

As we go higher (this is 470W for a minute) I'm working at a higher cadence and the line is smoother.

The Direto XR rewards a smooth pedal stroke, that's for sure, and in Elite's My E-training software you can perform pedal analysis with a radial plot of your power: the figure-of-eight/sausage plot you'll be familiar with if you've spent any time on a Wattbike. You get 12 months of My E-training subscription included when you buy the Direto XR.

On the graph above you'll notice the Direto line is starting to drop below the Rotor line...

...and in a sprint it's a fair chunk below, by about 50W. Which of the two is right? I don't really know, to be honest. Either is believable. The main thing you want the numbers to be is repeatable, and the Direto XR proves very consistent.

Cadence sensing is algorithmic rather than using a physical sensor, and for the most part it's very good. It suffers the odd glitch from time to time, as you can see at the end of the trace here. But for the most part it does a grand job.

Ride feel: responsive resistance, smooth and quiet

In general use I found the Direto XR to be a well-behaved training companion. When you're riding around in Zwift or My E-training the trainer responds very well to changes in gradient, and is fully capable of making things really difficult on the steep stuff if you set the realism nice and high.

The flywheel isn't as heavy as some, but I don't feel it negatively affects the feel of the ride; if you drop a few gears and open up a sprint you still have to wind the Direto up to speed, and it responds well to sprint efforts.

It's quiet and well-balanced, too, as top-end trainers generally are these days. In my setup of a bike, the trainer and a gym fan, it was the least noisy thing of the three. It feels very solid and planted, which is good in a durability sense but less so in terms of ride experience.

Your bike is firmly held and there's no side-to-side movement, which means it doesn't feel especially active, and you're anchored in one position – which can get uncomfortable after a while.

Other trainers, such as the Tacx Neo 2T and – to a lesser extent – the Wahoo Kickr V5, offer a more active ride with the bike able to pivot a bit. I prefer the feel of that, but it's not a deal-breaker.

My E-training software: lots in it, but video comes at a premium

The Direto XR comes with a year's subscription to Elite's own training platform, My E-training. I've already mentioned it gives you access to pedal stroke analysis data, and there's loads more in there too.

For a start there are standard FTP tests and a wealth of training sessions; you can create a training program for yourself or build your own workouts from scratch.

These use a simple follow-the-line interface that's similar to TrainerRoad. There's more graphical stuff in there too, up to and including RealVideo which allows you to complete classic climbs and loops with video footage to keep you interested. These are an add-on to the subscription though, and they work out pretty expensive if you start buying on a regular basis.

If you prefer you can ride GPS routes, with a Google Maps satellite view, or even record your own video on a smartphone app to ride at home. There's quite a lot in My E-training, and given that you get a year free it's certainly worth exploring a bit.

You get good tools for viewing your data within the platform, but it's also easy to get it out into Strava, TrainingPeaks or Garmin Connect if you prefer to crunch the numbers there.

Overall: a very good option at the high end of indoor training

The Direto XR feels like a premium trainer, and at £824.99 it's at the lower end of what you'd expect to pay for one. It's directly competing with units like the Wahoo Kickr Smart Trainer V5 at £999.99, and the Saris H3 Direct Drive Smart Trainer at £849.99, and it's comparable to either in accuracy, performance and ride feel.

It's probably not quite up there with the Tacx Neo 2T, but then that's a fair bit more expensive at almost £1200.

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Overall, the Direto XR is a solid investment: it's a very good trainer, and you get a year's free access to a training platform thrown in. And even if you're not going to use that, it's still good value given the performance.

Note: The original value score and conclusions were made based on the rrp at the time, and the Elite Direto XR is currently £829.99.

Verdict

Very good smart trainer that's priced well against its competition