Elite Novo Smart from Halfords. Confused...

meggiedude

Can someone pls shed some light on this turbo from Halfords.
It looks like the Novo Force chassis, but is Smart with the addition of the B+ transmitter.
Ive looked on the Elite web site - but can't find anything there.
Is this some special Halfords hybrid turbo, i.e bespoke for them, or am I missing something.
Its a decent price so caught my eye.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/turbo-trainers/trainers/elite-novo-smart-turbo-trainer

tangled_metal

It might well be Halfords exclusive. I think the Tacx smart turbo I bought last year was their exclusive.

meggiedude

Thats what I thought. Not my fav shop, but can be useful at time like this.

If it is a "Special" my only concern would be of level of support from Elite, or how often you get Firmware upgrades, vs other products in their range.

Buckie2k5

This trainer reduced to 180 in the black friday sale, along with BC discount makes it 160. Seriously considering taking a punt on it for Zwifting.

Currently using a dumb trainer with pwm,
having this to control gradient and pwm for power seems a good idea.

jamoosem

Hi there, bought one of these a few days ago and thought i'd add my 10 pence... I bought it to replace an old TACX trainer and so far I think it's a great trainer for the price. I've had it it hooked up to Zwift and it works very well and works seamlessly with my garmin 520. It feels really stable (I'm 6ft 5in 110kg) and isn't quite as noisy as my tacx was although I'd say make sure and use it with a mat. The plastic on the butts of the legs is very hard, so unless using on a mat/carpet or something, it can get a bit slippy when mounting. Once on it's fine though. Done about 100 miles on it so far and no problems.

It's also a doddle to set up. SO far so good and a great price.

I agree RE the Halfords thing. I've had a few bad experiences in the past and was in two minds whether or not to buy it, but figured a big name like Elite wouldn't risk their reputation unless it was half decent. Also I noticed it isn't listed on the Zwift website but it def works.

J

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Tacx 2240 has been reduced to £190 at Halfords, I'd be inclined to get that with BC discount over the Elite Novo Smart.

PaulDerbyshire

Hi, I'm Halfords turbo trainer buyer. Don't shoot! I realise I'm coming to this a little bit late but I thought I'd answer in case anyone else is confused.

The Novo Smart essentially takes the resistance unit from the Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+ (http://www.elite-it.com/en/products/glo ... al-smart-b) and attaches it to the Novo frame. It's a fully smart trainer, works with Zwift etc etc. Should be added to the Zwift compatible trainer list soon.

It's exclusive to us but will benefit from full support from Elite as with any of their other trainers. And of course our returns policy too if you have any issues.

Drop me a message if anyone has any other questions about this or any other trainer on our site.

Cheers

rodmac

PaulDerbyshire wrote:

Hi, I'm Halfords turbo trainer buyer. Don't shoot! I realise I'm coming to this a little bit late but I thought I'd answer in case anyone else is confused.

The Novo Smart essentially takes the resistance unit from the Elite Qubo Digital Smart B+ (http://www.elite-it.com/en/products/glo ... al-smart-b) and attaches it to the Novo frame. It's a fully smart trainer, works with Zwift etc etc. Should be added to the Zwift compatible trainer list soon.

It's exclusive to us but will benefit from full support from Elite as with any of their other trainers. And of course our returns policy too if you have any issues.

Drop me a message if anyone has any other questions about this or any other trainer on our site.

Cheers

Paul - do you have any views on the Elite Novo Smart compared to the Tacx Flow T2240 Smart? The Elite has a higher power rating but are there any other significant differences?

thorny88

Also interested to hear the answer to the above question. Thanks

oo03sjw

Me too!

daveb99

I’m considering one of these - has anyone bought one? Any experiences? I’m also interested in whether it folds flat fairly easily (or nearly flat) as I have limited space to would be looking to hang this (and my bike) on the garage wall in between uses...

robu

Someone asked for real-world experiences. I've recently bought one of these from Halfords and returned it.

First, some background. I've got six or seven years experience on a turbo. Until recently that was a Cycleops Fluid 2, bought secondhand and used with Trainerroad in virtual power mode five or six days a week through the winter and probably twice a week in the summer. It's served me very well and I've been very pleased with it, but after a lot of use, I've worn it out (the bracket that holds the turbo to the bike wheel bent and eventually snapped).

Now, the Elite Novo Smart.

The good: it arrived very quickly (24 hours delivery was free). Easy and straightforward assembly. It works pretty much straight out of the box. I used it with the legacy desktop version of Trainerroad and a 4iiii power meter. Everything hooked up quickly and worked as it should.

The not so good: I found it a bit flimsy and the smart power adjustments were too crude for my purposes. If I stood up to sprint, the Elite Novo Smart rocked from side to side on its base (I'm 84kg and 1.90m, so not that excessive). I could imagine it breaking within a few weeks under the strain.

Also not good: The resistance is magnetically controlled in, I think, 10 or 12 steps. I found these too crude and inadequate for my purposes. For instance, doing a sweet spot interval at 300W (my ftp is 335W) at a specific cadence (usually 95-100) was often impossible, no matter which gear combination I selected. The smart resistance would hunt all around the targeted power, but because it has relatively few steps, would frequently fail to find a suitable setting and would therefore switch every 10-15 seconds between too much and too little resistance. This was very frustrating.

At lower power targets, say below 280W or 300W, the smart resistance worked relatively well, albeit with the hunting outlined above. However, above 300W it often just gave up.

Compared to the Cycleops, which is almost entirely metal in construction, the mostly plastic Elite is pretty flimsy. The roller is plastic or rubber, which made it slightly quieter than the metal roller on the Cycleops, but I found my wheel slipped whenever I increased power or cadence at a normal rate. I had to increase pressure or cadence very gradually to avoid slippage. Also, the plastic/rubber roller wore my turbo tyre much more than the Cycleops's metal roller. After only 15-20 minutes use, there was a lot of rubber scurf on the turbo and floor.

If you buy online, you can return it for a full no-questions refund within 28 days, which I have done (you pay return postage if you don't return it to a Halfords store). I'm now looking at the Elite Direto. It's three times the price, so I'm hoping it'll be a case of getting what you pay for. It's either that or back to a replacement Cycleops Fluid 2.

I hope that helps anyone considering a purchase.

haydenm

Interesting^

I don't trust the numbers on mine, I really struggle with sweet spot or ftp tests on mine despite being able to hit more realistic power numbers in sprints. I'm not sure if it's under reading power or whether it's the 'pedalling through mud' feeling you get from a trainer like this. Maybe I'm less fit that I think I am but it shouldn't be this low. Either way, I'm getting good training in which will translate to the roads when the snow clears so I'm fairly happy.

If I had a larger budget I would go for something better but it's good training nonetheless

steelcat

i bought one and am very happy with it, i had similar concerns about not finding it on the elite website, but when you set it up there is a QR code to scan which syncs it with the elite app,
i am using mine with the free 60 day sufferfest voucher you get and am really enjoying it. Yes it is on the cheaper end of smart trainers but for my needs its great, I think that the setup and inbuilt sensors will make things more consistent for me even if the numbers may not be 100% accurate.
I like the feel of it compared to the 2 previous TACX trainers i have had