I heard @Jonathan gets to ride “all the trainers in the world”, so is it only a matter of days before we hear him raving about it?
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I’ve tried them out, I wasn’t impressed with the smart function. My overall opinion is that some other rollers and a power meter would be just as smart. I didn’t mess around with them much but that had a little to do with me not thinking it was worth it.
I thought the ride was ok, personally I prefer Kreitlers, I haven’t ridden any other rollers but rode 4.5” Kreitlers for years. The Nero’s don’t feel bad but it felt like the left right left right part of turning the pedals was really emphasized. I’ve been riding a Kickr Core lately and prefer the feel of that.
The Nero’s are easy to adjust for length, that’s nice. Their version of a spindown is done cold per the manual (at least two hours since last used) but I can’t tell it works. I couldn’t tell that any of the “smart” stuff works, the signals are there, things connect etc but at best I was riding rollers using a crank based powermeter which can be done cheaper.
They do fold up and you might unfold them without removing a digit but I wouldn’t let my daughter do it without training. I think the flywheels make them really awkward to move around. Not sure how heavy the Quick Motions are but these are way more awkward than 4.5” full steel Kreitlers.
The step on the side has some nonskid/sandpaper on it. I can’t begin to see how stepping on it with cycling shoes and cleats isn’t going to tear it up. I’d guess speedplay cleats would do it in instantly.
There are a few places in Europe that have them in stock now. My two cents is that they aren’t worth half the asking, and that the Quick Motions with powermeter make more sense. The roller design has a lot going for it, I can even understand people liking or preferring these. I’d redesign the step as people aren’t going to like seeing it all chewed up, but the rollers are interesting. They just aren’t very “smart” and they’ve got a real long way to go in that department.
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I’m using Nero rollers, rode with them about 1kkm in Zwift and made some review on Zwift.PL Facebook group. Google translation:
5000/5000
Limit znaków: 5000
Elite Nero and tracking the snake 
EDITION a little about ERG and power measurement, Power Link
Added 31.03
Today I wanted to go with A group ZHR for 100km. Dropped off after 90, but I was already burned to the max by the fault of Power Link. This solution is used to allow Nero to use an external sensor instead of its curves. It sounds beautiful, but it works to suck. First of all, the power given from Nero to Zwift is delayed by a good 5s, keeping in the first groupetto circa 4 in this torment. You see the departure, so you press, they are leaving, so you will be more pressured. Suddenly, you see that the turbo has worked and you are not only reaching, but also ahead and several lengths. At doubledraft, you slow down, the blob comes and the fight for welding again. Failure and so much, for some time they went more, I was more late and I just had to wave them. The second problem is imho enabled smoothing reported power, something like the average of the last 5s. Every explosion is cut. In a word - do not use,
Today I picked up a little and already driven, so the goal of the summary of the review, promises to be the real Zwiftowy “Game Changer”
But to the point:
- power measurement will be a hit by Zwifta, Stu is probably already queuing for Nero. Before the “spin down” calibration, it looked at + 30%. After calibration maybe some + 20%. Let us stay with the statement that I can not do calibration, but the talented young master of many masters thanks to Nero will embarrass his results;)
- Nero is significantly silent on such a Vortex and very much from Quick Motion, on the level of direct drive trainers from a few years ago,
- quality at the Quick Motion level. The big lime tree is a cracked casing with which I was delivered to it, I do not think it will happen in transport. So the factories let go of the lime tree and the exchange of the housing panel awaits me, but I will not let the trainer out of the house anymore
- flywheels allow to release the crank on the roll and the bike travels steadily: o Also the wheel feel very much while driving,
- I set Zwift to read the power from the crank and control the resistance to the slope of the terrain, the level of the trainer’s difficulty at 100% and the magic started. Sprint on flat beautifully came in at almost 900W (I do not have legs today, but acidified jellies), and it was only 52/13 and the term not crazy (below 110, max 136 for a moment), feeling great. Even better, because on small jumps a light stand is naturally made and the driveway goes on a hard drive. The bigger hill is the tracking of the snake, it will not be returned by Neo or Kickr Climb. Resistance grows beautifully fast and linearly, without jumping, and the speed of the wheels is inevitably falling, so that the stability of the rollers disappears, the standstart begins naturally with itself and the mentioned snake tracking. Goes on such a driveway to hold 500-600W with a cadence of ~ 60rpm. You do not really need a bigger incline because you can throw yourself away
- measuring the cadence by the trainer works very well IMHO, although you probably need to observe and compare,
- it’s heavy, it’s not portable, it can not be put aside, because it’s not that shape.
Added on March 20
- exercise in ERG mode did not bite me, but I approached the topic too little ambitiously (intellectually). The construction of Nero and the fact that it is a roll imposes certain limitations and can not be treated like the NEO, which will keep everyone in the ERG regardless of the gear. Probably also the resistance unit is not the strongest. Designers have come to the right assumption that on a roll you can drive in a certain range of rotational speed of the wheels (too slow or too fast - you lie on the side) and choose the characteristics of the resistance unit work for possible adjustments. For resistors below 120W, so you have to drive very slowly, and for large resistance you need to accelerate significantly. An impression is probably due to the fact that for a given rotational speed the margin of available power change is not very wide. Exercises Over Under are therefore OK, if we set the speed and cadence in the range, but now the sprints from 90W to 900W in Jon’s Mix - it can not be done without the shift gear shifter.
- it is still possible to do the exercise, as on “not smart” Quick Motion ", i.e. without ERG and preferably in trainer difficulty mode 0, then changing the gears can probably make even those over 1,300W (I have not yet known).
- the option of a built-in control of its operation by means of an external power meter and the use of an external cadence sensor is very interesting. After switching on, the roll automatically searches for the power sensor, and when it is connected, you can freely read the data from the raff on Zwift (noticeable smoothening of the value, but I did not feel any difference). Connecting to an external sensor can be done via ANT + and BTLE (do not be surprised then, that I am missing the measurement of external power from the list available in Zwift - the roll then takes the BTLE channel). I learned about this option only when I applied the RTFM procedure For double-sided measurements, one of ANT + or BTLE channels can be selected and marked in the configuration that it should double the reading.
- of course you can reset / reset the pairing with the power sensor and you do not need to enter the application for this reason - it looks thoughtful.
Pekło today on a loose ride of 100km, Neo will probably have a longer rest, to the next Jon’s Mix exercise
Hiya,
I just bought a set of Elite Nero rollers. I will be training on them for the next few weeks. Is there anything specific people wanted me to comment on about them?
Nothing specific from me. I would like to hear your basic impression and relative comparison to other trainers or rollers that you have used.
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Looking forward to your review. Mine have not arrived. I will be connecting using iPad and Bluetooth rather than ANT+ so if you do same let us know of any lag time or issues with interactive control.
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Well so far, the connectivity is very good over bluetooth and I have had zero issues. Also works great over ANT+ and connection to zwift was also a snap. I was also able to have zwift control the trainer’s resistence and have my own hub power meter report power results.
I’m going to keep writing down my thoughts and such. Will keep everyone posted
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Very cool. Glad it is working well from the start.
How are those in the rain?
These Neros actually plug into power outlet so not ideal for warmups out on course. Quick Motion rollers are lighter and do not require a power outlet.
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Haven’t used them in the rain to be honest. My last race where it was raining I warmed up on course
So here are my thoughts after a quick 30 minute session.
It is very easy to get onto these rollers with the provided platform. The platform material is of a material that is similar to skate board tape. I use speedplays so I checked to see if the cleats were scuffed up and no issues there.
I love the flywheels and the rocking motion immensely. I’m used to rollers having absolutely no momentum so you have to get into position, turn the cranks to get to speed then hop on. With this, there is enough momentum to allow you time to get up and in. I’m still holding to the wall while I do this but I’ve been able to get in and out without the wall. A major first for the rollers for me even after 2-3 months of training on them.
In terms of setup, ant+ and bluetooth detection is flawless. Everything from an ipad, iphone, to computer with usb stick paired with zero issues. Sharing over ant+ and bluetooth didn’t cause any conflicts either. It connected to zwift no problem and it was able to control the rollers.
However, there are problems. First, spindown calibration wasn’t working out of the box. Even with its own app, it was saying there were time outs. Second, there is a noticable lag in resistance on zwift about 2-3 seconds. This caught me off guard doing 3 sisters and I almost fell off but the rocking motion and the momentum made it easy for me to recover. Third, erg mode in TR wasn’t matching exactly as expected. I didn’t have enough time to inspect so for my next session I’ll explore this in more depth tomorrow. Finally, its heavy and they didn’t really design it well for moving around easily which is a bit of a bummer. Definitely wouldn’t take this to warm up but, then again, i’d use my feedback sports stand for that.
So far, my thinking is that this is worth it for the inertia and rocking in the rollers alone. I have had problems with feeling down there for long training sessions (even on static trainers) and had zero problems here. I was also able to get out of the saddle as well which is a first. As for a smart function, not sure its perfect but it does work and it does make zwift feel more real. The lag is noticeable though. But to be honest, the Nero so new (the tag literally says made 29 March 2019) I expect firmware updates to come soon…I hope.
Hope this helps so far. Ask away and I’ll give my impressions when I can
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Excellent report. Looking forward to my Nero rollers now more than ever.
Weight is not surprising with the two flywheels. The QM rollers weigh about 30lbs but the Nero rollers exceed 40 lbs I seem to recall. Movable for storage but not for warmups before a ride.
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I expected it to be heavy but that it would have some locking mechanisms to make it easier to move around. It has a locking mechanism that allows the front to collapse and fold up so the storage space is like a square. However, there isn’t a locking mechanism that holds the collapsed front to the heavier roller unit. This makes moving it around a pain the top can flip open and hit you if you don’t carry it right.
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The flop of the bottom section from the top while folded was a problem on the Quick Motion rollers too. I used a strap to wrap around them and to tuck the loose belts in. You would think Elite might make a case or cover for them for transporting them.
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I got the Quick Motion when they first came out, but I regret it. Nero is basically the QM with smart resistance and more flywheel. The problem with both of them is they are basically plastic throwaways. The QM was trashed after two years. Also, the motion doesn’t work right unless they’re on a smooth hard surface, so you really can’t just use them anywhere. They are a nice looking package, but for that kind of money I expected better.
I ended up with E-motion smart rollers. They are 30lbs but built like a tank and will probably outlast me. They are way nicer to ride and they didn’t cost that much more than a Nero. I’m also using their floating fork gizmo, which is another thing that nobody here had tried, but I think it’s the best thing about these rollers.
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Nero Rollers were listed as being available in USA early May now says early June. Not sure what the delay is but these rollers were predicted to be in the USA last January. Guess that there are more tweaks to the power measuring?? Does seem like Europe riders are receiving theirs.
That likely has more to do with simple location since Elite is based in Italy. They might be focusing on getting their “local” EU market setup first, since that may be easier/faster. Then likely move on to the US, AUS, and other countries/areas/markets.
That’s normally due to certifications - they probably completed CE requirements, but could have been missing UL and such.
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