Turbo Trainer – Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+
Having started back riding (in April 17) with a set of ‘dumb’ Rollers, by June, I was convinced that I needed something a bit more ‘realistic’, a Trainer that I could work with that would be capable of a full training plan.
I had a good look around, searched the Internet high and low, looking for a smart or interactive trainer, all without breaking the bank.
I found the Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+, a ‘wheel on’ trainer that was wireless controlled, and was more reasonably priced than the ‘direct drive’ turbo trainers.
Ordered, delivered and set up – it was great. A much more realistic ride and I realised how much my fitness levels had dropped.
The advertising for the trainer is some like this:
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Realistic
This home trainer features the Qubo frame with Crono compass system that pushes the tyre on the roller by exploiting body weight, thus simulating faithfully the experience on the road
The red roller the wheel rests on is made in Elastogel material, the exclusive polyurethane compound developed and tested by ELITE. This decreases the noise coming from the roller/tyre friction by 50% and tyre consumption by 20%.
The exclusive Crono compass system has been designed and developed by Elite for many years and faithfully reproduces how a bike behaves on the road.
The athlete’s weight directly affects the home trainer, based on the mechanisms of pedaling on the road. This affects the power output, for instance at the 30 km/h speed, a 90kg cyclist exerts a different power output than a 60kg cyclist.
Interactivity
The Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+ is a smart interactive home trainer that interacts with any app, software, computer and device (smartphones and tablets) that features iOS, Android, OSX and Windows.
Data exchange among the home trainers and other areas of the system is wireless.
This makes it possible to manage resistance by displaying and adjusting parameters in order to have total personalisation and interactivity for your indoor training sessions.
The Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+ can be managed via the My E-Training software or other indoor cycling services, such as Zwift, TrainerRoad, The Sufferfest, Bikevo, Kinomap and many more.
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So, I set off enjoying many a ride throughout 2017 and 2018. Joining some of the organised rides and completing some of the Training Programmes, and all the while slowly increasing my fitness levels.
However, come Sept 2018 – I noticed that the trainer was behaving a little erratically, some days hard, some days easy. I just put it down to good days and bad days in training.
By November, it was obvious that something wasn’t quite right. Undertaking an FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test, I went from 175 to 433 (which is World Tour Standard).
I contacted Elite Support, and after a few tests and taking a video of the mechanical resistance and flywheel they concluded that the Control Board was faulty.
A new board was sent out – it arrived very quickly, and I installed it – very simple to do.
However, no change – the new board didn’t make any difference. So, back to Elite Service, more tests and another video.
This time, they thought it might be the mechanical resistance – however, the trainer would have to go back to Evan Cycling under the 2 year Warranty.
I packed the trainer up, got back on my rollers, and spent December easy riding…!
The Trainer was collected, and after a few emails backwards and forwards, Evans agreed on a replacement trainer, and that is how I upgraded to the Elite Drivo 2.
Full details of the new trainer in a later Article.