The Suito is Elite’s new mid-range, competitively priced, direct-drive, interactive trainer designed to take your indoor training to the next level.
Powerful, solid, and quiet, Suito offers an easy, realistic, and accurate indoor bike training experience. It has carved a name for itself by offering components and functionality that seriously undercuts the competition. The trainer comes totally pre-assembled out of the box, and it features a pre-installed 11-speed cassette saving you some bucks straight off the bat.
The Suito ensures max compatibility with most bicycles, setting itself as one of the most performing and easy to use home trainers that a cyclist could hope for.
ELITE SUITO TRAINER SETUP
The Suito is ready to use out of the box. As mentioned earlier, an 11-speed Shimano 105 cassette (or equivalent depending on what’s shipped by the company) is fitted as standard, which is unique because many similar priced units don’t include a cassette. This trainer will also work with 8-, 9- and 10-speed Shimano set-ups and will need you to install your own cassette though.
Next in the package of parts is the front wheel block. This is also included, whereas with most trainers it isn’t. It is worth considering riding with a front-wheel block, even on trainers that supposedly don’t need one (like a Wahoo KICKR). It helps to stabilize the front wheel and gives for a more enjoyable experience as a whole.
Once set-up, the Suito has a footprint of 57cm long x 76cm wide x 49cm tall. When not in use, the legs fold inside, making it easy to store. The length remains at 57cm, as does the height at 49cm, but the width reduces down to 20cm (including skewer). This is impressive and makes it easy to stick in a cupboard or under a bed.
TOP 3 FEATURES ON THE ELITE SUITO
Ready-to-Use out of the box, and with a cassette included. The Elite Suito is already proving to be one of the easiest trainers to set up. The 11-speed cassette, which is factory fitted saves the buyer both time and money, which would have gone into purchasing one separately to use the trainer.
All trainers by Elite immediately send power, speed and cadence data, thus setting themselves as effective instruments to build an accurate training program and replicated outdoor workouts as much as possible. Cadence is measured via a practical sensorless technology (that is, no sensors to apply to your bicycle) and is calculated on the Suito as a function of speed variations.
Lastly, the Suito also features an included Elite power meter link that enables you to hook your power meter up with the trainer. This means the trainer will give the same reading as your power meter, which keeps all your data on the same level for easy and consistent training indoor and out.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
In this review, we will be focusing on 8 factors about the Elite Suito
- Type of Resistance Unit
- Direct Drive vs Wheel-on
- Power Accuracy
- Connectivity
- Compatibility
- Portability
- Budget
1. RESISTANCE UNIT
The Elite Suito uses an Electromagnetic resistance unit that provides the most accurate and real-like road feel among all types of trainers. The Suito comes equipped with a range of built-in sensors that will allow you to regulate and calculate almost every aspect of your ride!
Combined with the electromagnetic unit, offers the most comprehensive and diverse trainer experience. It is also the quietest of all trainer types, as resistance is generated using electromagnetic repulsion, which is frictionless and quiet. It is perfect if you’re looking to workout without waking up the entire house, and perhaps your neighbours!
2. DIRECT DRIVE VS WHEEL-ON
The Elite Suito is a direct drive trainer, which means that you remove your rear wheel and mount your bike directly on the cassette mounted on the trainer. You place the trainer between your bike’s dropouts and clamp it with a quick release or a thru-axle.
Direct drive trainers have more to offer than “normal” wheel-on trainers. The advanced technique brings more accuracy, makes the trainer generally more powerful and simulates a more realistic bike feeling. A rear tire will deform and slowly deflate while you train, influencing your performance during training.
An additional advantage of a trainer set-up without a rear tire is that this will make your training much more silent. And because most direct drive trainers are equipped with a built-in power meter, your workout will even get more professional.
Direct drive trainers are the most convenient as they are easier and quicker to set up (if you already have a cassette installed on the trainer).
| Direct-Drive trainers | Wheel-Drive trainers |
|---|---|
| More realistic Self-adjust resistance via apps More accurate Responds faster Higher resistance capabilities Relatively silent Built-in power meter | More affordable Weight less Easy to mount your bike |
3. POWER ACCURACY AND WATTAGE
The resistance on climbs and when accelerating is great with the Suito, as it performs without any sharp spikes. The Suito has a maximum gradient of 15%, and accuracy of ± 2.5%, which is enough to cater for most mountain goats out there.
As for the maximum power, the Suito offers up to 1,900 Watts, which should also be more than enough for most people.
It also features many functions designed to supply a complete power measurement system to give you an accurate workout experience:
- POWER METER LINK (PML) – It’s a function that lets the home trainer employ an ergometer that’s already installed on your bike as a power source.
- SPINDOWN – A calibration procedure for the home trainer that takes into account all friction values that change over time and during use that influence brake’s accuracy and compensates its effects on the resistance generated by the home trainer.
- TEMPERATURE COMPENSATION ALGORITHM – A function that lets the home trainer compensate the variations due to brake overheating and take the resulting data into account when calculating power.
4. CONNECTIVITY
The Elite Suito has all basic communication protocols in place – ANT+, FE-C & Bluetooth Smart, and allows interactive resistance control across both ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart.
By applying resistance control, apps can simulate climbs and set specific wattage targets for your training. You can also connect to any device you want to. Be it a bike computer or watch, or an app – it’ll be supported.
Therefore, the Elite Suito is one of the most immersive and accurate trainers for virtual ride simulation on apps like Zwift. That means that the range of difficulties and change in resistance will be the most accurate than other types of trainers. Anyone purchasing a Suito will get a free 1-month subscription to Zwift and a free 12-month subscription to the My E-Training software
Its plug-and-play setup is also one of the quickest set-ups we’ve seen on Smart Trainers in this category!
5. COMPATIBILITY
In terms of bike compatibility, again, there’s nothing to worry about. Since the trainer comes with a cassette in the box, all you have to do is simply put in place either the quick release or thru-axle adapter (depending on your particular bike). The unit includes a thru-axle adapter set for 142x12mm.
If the cassette in the box is not compatible with your set-up, you can freely replace the cassette with your own.
6. PORTABILITY
At just 14.5kgs, the Suito is very light compared to other slightly more expensive Direct-Drive trainers on the market. This is great if you’re short on space at home and constantly need to move your trainer between sessions!
7. BUDGET
Priced extremely competitively in the market, the Suito offers a commendable direct-drive interactive indoor trainer experience. Maybe not as accurate or quiet as more expensive direct-drive trainers the benefit of included components (cassette, trainer block, and thru-axle adapters) and its already cheaper price point, make it a very compelling option for people looking to purchase their first direct-drive smart trainer.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFICATIONS
Weight: 14.5kg
Accuracy: +/- 2.5%
Connectivity: ANT+ FE-C, Smart Bluetooth, and FTMS
Max Resistance: 1900 Watts
Max gradient simulation: 15%
Flywheel: 3.5kg
Thru-axle compatible: Yes
The Elite Suito offers strong direct-drive capabilities at a compelling price-point. Its included 11-Speed cassette, front-wheel block, and thru-axle adapters are uncommon in this segment with other brands rarely offering so much straight out of the box!
While the more expensive trainers might offer higher accuracy levels, more power, and quieter operations we feel this trainer be a fantastic value for money offering with most bells and whistles enabled and enabling some serious training rides right out of the box.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CYCLING:
I love the freedom which comes with riding a bike. On my Hardtail MTB , nothing is an obstacle, I seamlessly flow down trails and through traffic like water in a river. And that flow gives me immense satisfaction and the continued drive to get back on my bike the next day.
DISCIPLINE: Mountain Biking & Commuting
CURRENT BIKE: Marin Bolinas Ridge Disc
DREAM BIKE: Cannondale TOPSTONE Carbon Lefty 3
