Following on from my post about smart / dumb turbos and power limits I found this at Cycle Republic:

Elite Real Turbo Muin

Smart trainer, rated at up to 3600w and £500!

FWIW, it looks to be the B+ version as the text says it uses ANT+ and bluetooth. The pictures indicate the same.

I don’t think anyone’s ever sold one of those at a grand, have they ?

… and, looking, is its resistance controllable by the likes of zwift ?

rated at up to 3600w

Well that’s me out then.

No idea, but spec-wise it’s still a good deal.

It was recently £399 at Evans, and up at £449 on Wiggle? Doesn’t seem that good a price?

think the wiggle one is the non-smart version? Looks a different colour/graphics.

I can’t find it actually stated that this has controllable resistance – or at least it’s in there just after the statement that resitance is just like the wind when you’re riding outside

they say “smart” and “zwift” etc but those are a bit ambiguous IMO

(I’d be looking for ANT+ FEC or something like that in the spec)

The Elite website confirms it’s ANT+ FE-C

Elite site

actually, I take it all back – elite site says

ANT+™ Wireless and Bluetooth Smart transmission. Total interaction between App/Software/Devices with ANT+™ trainers protocol (FE-C).

so I guess it should work with training apps

FWIW I have an elite trainer (drivo) and the feel is great, very like “true” road feel

Seems that there are at least2 versions of this muin around and only the newer one is FEC, so be careful what you buy

I looked at this a few weeks ago – Cycle Republic in Reading had em and they weren’t FEC. Tho the spec on this seems to state that the magnetic resistance is controllable from other sources

Ended up with a cheap Tacx Flow which works fine for my puny legs. I know it’s only 800w but Zwift can handle the discrepancy between what the trainer does and what other riders do

I’ve just been on the phone with Cycle Republic and they have confirmed that it is the B+ model, i.e. ANT+ FE-C and BLE compliant. They are going to look at updating the wording of the advert title this afternoon. The photos do also show a B+ model – I took a screenshot just in case it isn’t the FE-C model.

It seems that the ‘Real’ is the distinctive bit here.

I picked up a non real version (non FEC) from halfords the other week for £260 (inc BC discount).

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

Their Direto price is £20 cheaper than Halfords, at £700.

Do they do BC discount at Cycle Republic?

Yes they do the BC discount at Cycle Republic (well at the one in Leeds anyway).

FYI any Elite trainer can be made semi smart with their Muin B+ sensor (£45 ish) to give power/cadence/speed with bluetooth and Ant+.

I use an Elite Qubo Fluid – about £150

Wow thanks, was about to pull the trigger on an elite direto from Halfords at 720 (bc discount to 650)

Cheaper and better

Happy days

May be worth checking if any friend works for a big company that does a large range of discounts for staff.

I work a large insurers, so we get 10% off at halfords/cycle republic via work website, basically we purchase a Halfords gift card of value £500 for £450.00

I can then go into Halfords with that gift card which they treat as cash and get my BC discount off, so would pay £405.00 for it!

They are meant to be good trainers but have a terrible reputation for over-reading on zwift

How does the magnetic resistance work with the fluid resistance? Looks like the fluid is up to 3000w and the magnetic (i.e the one controled by zwift) up to 800w?

Slightly annoyed that I just bought a direto! Tho that one does have a powermeter built in.

Looks like the fluid is up to 3000w and the magnetic (i.e the one controled by zwift) up to 800w?

I’d have imagined that the fluid bit was constant and the magnets are on top of that (unless it has variable vanes or something) ??

I’m getting a general interweb vibe that the Real Muin had issues, it’s ~2 years old tech, I wouldn’t put it in my shortlist.

Shame, because on paper, the specs are impressive, such as 18% gradient replication.

As things stand*, I’m waiting until tomorrow to see if there are any better deals, but if not I might well be going for the Direto at ~£630 (including BC discount) from Cycle Republic.

* This may change due to my typical hesitancy in spending such quantities of squids on new toys for myself. 😉

Always worth checking evans ex display

https://www.evanscycles.com/bike-accessories/ex-display-home-trainers_c?sort=-price_inc_vat

Slightly annoyed that I just bought a direto! Tho that one does have a powermeter built in.

I’d have a Direto over that Muin without any hesitation at all.

Slightly annoyed that I just bought a direto! Tho that one does have a powermeter built in.

I’d have a Direto over that Muin without any hesitation at all.

On what basis? Purely due to the power meter or?