My Elite Direto recently gave up the ghost. I contacted Elite & diagnosed the problem with their help but the lead time on the component that will probably fix the problem is looooong. So & I started to engage in the spread-sheet intensive effort of buying a new trainer & planned to sell the old trainer & sell it whenever the parts were available.
Somewhere in the middle of building the spreadsheet I thought, ‘Brennus, you are a multi-millionaire. It might not make perfect sense to spend 8 hours agonizing over a few hundred smackers.’ What am I saving it for, right? So I just went down to the bike shop and bought the most expensive trainer I could walk out of the store with: wahoo kickr. Easiest sale that associate ever made.
I purchased my beloved Elite Direto out of the Performance Bike liquidation for right around $600…a little less. The kickr cost right around $1200…a little more. The kickr is twice as expensive, is it twice as good?
Well, the Kickr is better, for sure. Let me count the ways…
Performance/Ride feel
1.) No clunk. Whenever you start up a workout on the Direto…at some point just before or during the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 countdown the Direto will ramp resistance up to 400-500 watts for a second or so. This became known as ‘The Clunk’. Same thing would happen if a workout was stopped briefly to answer nature’s call or pick up a dropped remote/water bottle. No Clunk operation has got to be worth $100 or so.
2.) Much, much quieter. I can soft pedal on this trainer while watching TV with the fam and it doesn’t bother anybody. $50.
3.) Much faster slew rate. Any interval at or below 20s duration started to be a little dubious on the Direto. Much better on the Kickr. I estimate resistance slew is somewhere between 3x and 4x faster on the Kickr. This isn’t a real big feature bonus for me but it can matter for some. $20.
4.) There is a different ride feel. I was skeptical about this but it is true without a doubt. The flywheel feels more pronounced on the Kickr. At similar gearing & cadence the Kickr spindown time is a lot longer than the Direto. This isn’t something that has a lot of value to me but it matters to a lot of users (or so they say). $5.
Tertiary Features
1.) The feet have some wiggle. For my weight & setup there is maybe 4mm to 7mm of wobble. Surprisingly, this made a big comfort difference for me. Probably, the relative effect will vary from rider to rider, but at the 120+ minute mark working on the Kickr is a lot more comfortable than the Direto. Just to give you an idea, the Direto has approximately as much play as an industrial high-carbon steel I-beam. Maybe a little less. $40.
2.) The kickr has a neat little integrated adjustment so you don’t have to guess your way to an appropriate setup based on wheel diameter. That means you don’t need a riser block. No big deal but worth something. $10.
3.) The kickr has a better handle. 
Maybe industry leading! I could do farmer’s walks with two Kickrs, no prob. $5.
Nerd Tweeks
1.) Kickr has multiple bluetooth bands. I wanted this feature for some nerdy pursuits that I’ve always wanted to do. Big deal for me but probably a non-event for most. $150.
Ok. Let’s add it all up. Ummmm…calle it $400. Kickr is worth $400 more than the Direto in my opinion.
Is the Kickr worth $500 more than the Core? No. Not in my opinion. Not even close.
