Elite Direto - no resistance and strange clicking noise

[JDickson]

I purchased an Elite Direto trainer about a month ago and have been using it 4 times a week since then. This evening when I started to pedal and the trainer made a few strange clicking noises, the resistance became very high quite quickly and then all resistance disappeared and i can now spin the fly wheel by hand. When I spin the fly wheel a I can hear a weird clicking noise.

I have not opened up the housing as I do not wish to void the warranty. Could someone please tell me what i should do next? This for me is fairly urgent as i am currently using the trainer to keep fit in preparation for a mountain biking holiday I have coming up while i am recovering from a broken hand.

Thanks.

[Elite Admin S]

Hi

It seems a mechanical issue.
Please contact the customer care at [email protected]. In the email, add the serial number of the trainer and a short video/record of the noise.
They guys there will tell you what to do (usually they answer in few hours).

Regards

[raphnou]

Hello Elite,

I bought the Direto the 12/04/18 I use it 4 times a week.
I just finished a long session of 1h30 on Zwift, at the end of the session the Direto made noises of "clack" several times and now it is hard all the time, the pedaling is not at all fluid it is jerky, and the direto no longer wants to manage the power, I even have a belt smell that heated

I took a photo through the air holes and it is easy to see that the belt is damaged

In addition, I reported that the calibration value decreased each time on another post,
I also warned the consumer assistance of a suspicious noise but not systematic and well now it is

What a disappointment, I counted a lot on the Direto maintain my level because I'm hurt

[Elite Admin S]

@raphnou,

I'm really sorry for the issue. The trainer must be repaired/replaced.
I see that you're already in contact with our customer care about this, please follow the instructions on how to return the trainer.

Regards

[raphnou]

Alas the Direto is gone today!

But now I understand why the calibration drifted down every week and the popping noises.
The damaged belt loses its resistance to the rhythm of the sessions and the calibration was always on the decline.
The Assitance Elite, so offered me to adjust the belt, but adjust a belt already damaged aggravates the problem and is useless ...
We lost a lot of time in the diagnosis, it's a shame ...

At first the noises were sporadic, and were regular only on the last 2 Zwift sessions, until hard resistance and uneven pedaling.

I lost confidence with this material, because similar comments were already raised in October 2017, mine was bought in April 2018, more than 6 months after the problems persists.

It is a heavy investment and when you are injured you have no choice to continue your training on home trainer (I do not have the right to ride on the road at the moment)

On this video which at 5 days the person explains exactly the slap noise I met https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjJOwwlSCqY


My Direto has been used for 53 activities since April 13, 2018.

Admin, can you tell us what parts you have replaced to correct this problem? A belt does not break so easily, there are other reasons for that.

Because it is useless to continue with material that is likely to fall down again.

Beyond all that, I appreciate the responsiveness of the admin who is nice and the assistance that responds quickly.

[Skyrunner39]

I work in an industry where i maintain machines that use belt drives. To me this looks like an issue with the belt quality where the belt has been joined. Because of the nature of that type of belt with the numerous grooves if the belt is not joined in correct alignment this will cause the belt to track off at that point therefore being forced to jump back(the noise you hear)in to the grooves at that point on the belt. Which will cause premature failure of the belt.

[Elite Admin S]

@raphnou,

as I wrote before, in the first productions we had a problem with the guide pulley. This issue has affected less than 1% of the Direto.
This mechanical issue caused a shift of the belt and its break-up immeidately during the first training sessions.

This problem has been solved months ago.
In your case, as the trainer is not an old production and as you did a lot of sessions before the break-up, there must have been a defect in the belt itself (congratulation to Skyrunner39, you got it right!)

[[email protected]]

I just got the same on my Direto. I bought and started workout on zwift since April 2018. I did 5hrs per week workout with 160watt average power.

[Elite Admin S]

@[email protected],

there is clearly something wrong with the belt.
Please contact our customer care at [email protected]

Regards

[shop]

I bought my Direto in spring 2018 too and I did a workout almost every day since then. Now I have exactly the same issue.
I am in contact with the Elite customer care already - I have to thank you the guys for the quick support.

Just for information, here is a photo of my belt defect:

18-06-29 12-25-24 3359.jpg (237.68 KiB) Viewed 22904 times