Elite Rivo In-Depth Review [2026]

The Elite Rivo was first announced back at Eurobike in July of 2025. Since then, the Rivo has become a very competitive option, priced between the Jetblack Victory and Wahoo KICKR Core 2. For the last 5 months, I’ve been using the Elite Rivo for all my rides, and below, you can find my full in-depth review of the trainer.

Specifications

Price: $499

Accuracy: +- 2.5 %

Casette: Zwift Cog (pre-installed)

Max Sim Gradient: 18%

Max Power: 1800W

WiFi: Yes

Sensor Bridging: Yes

Set Up

To be considered a Zwift Ready trainer, there are a few different requirements, with one of them being a relatively easy setup. The Elite Rivo is no exception. The Rivo comes in a pretty compact package. There are a few parts to the Rivo: the resistance unit, legs, and floor plate. To assemble the trainer, users will need to use the included Allen wrench to attach the legs and floor plate to the main resistance unit.

The whole setup took me roughly 20 minutes (not quite as easy as other trainers like the KICKR Core or even Elite’s own Direto XR Zwift Cog). However, it is a process that I think most should be able to complete in less than an hour, and I wouldn’t set up a reason to avoid purchasing this trainer.

Ride Feel

Elite has continued to impress me with their ability to deliver a very solid ride feel, even on their more budget-friendly trainers. The Avanti came in with a pretty light flywheel in comparison to Elite’s flagship Justo, and the Rivo came in with an even lighter flywheel. This initially had me a little bit worried about how it would perform; however, the Elite Rivo proved to be a very solid trainer.

For the majority of my time with the Elite Rivo, I have been using it with the Zwift RIDE, which has created a very easy and smooth ride.

Of course, the ride feel isn’t going to be quite as good as something like a Tacx Neo 2T (my personal favorite), or a Wahoo KICKR V6, but it certainly can compete with the trainers around its price point.

Noise Level

Now moving into the noise level. I alluded to this in the previous section, but the noise level has not been a problem with this trainer. I also think that we’ve reached the point where you can pretty much buy any current production trainer and not have to worry about the noise level. The vast majority of the noise is going to come from your drivetrain. Since I was using the Rivo with the Zwift RIDE, my setup was very quiet. Not quite silent, but very quiet. The only noise coming from the setup was from the drivetrain of the Zwift RIDE (this was mainly because it’s almost impossible to get the perfect alignment of the chain to the Zwift Cog).

Even without a fan on, nobody from outside the garage can hear my pedaling away on the Elite Rivo. Additionally, for those who are worried about vibration and noise traveling through the floor, a mat or carpet underneath the trainer should be enough to dampen any noise or vibration coming from the trainer

Tip: The best way to decrease the noise of your setup is almost always by lubing & cleaning your chain.

Virtual Shifting

Virtual Shifting is where things start to get a bit tricky… For those who have seen my reviews over on YouTube, you’ll know that virtual shifting is not a pleasant experience on Elite trainers. I did notice things to be slightly better on the Elite Rivo, but certainly nowhere near the experience that you get when riding on other trainers from brands like Wahoo, Garmin, Jetblack, etc. There are two main issues that the Elite trainers suffer from with virtual shifting:

Very little difference in gear shifts in the lower gears. From the first half of the gears (1-12), each shift does not feel like it makes that big of a difference. However, when shifting from the higher gears, like 20-21, you’ll notice a significant resistance jump
Shifting feels slightly delayed. Shifting gives a nice jolt very soon after hitting the shift button on trainers like the KICKR Core or the Neo 2T. However, the resistance feels slow to change, and there is no clear moment when the resistance changes

Other reviewers like Shane (GPLama) have also noted the high resistance floor. What this means is that when riding on Elite trainers, you can’t put out 100 watts at a very high cadence.

Accuracy

Power accuracy on the Elite Rivo is pretty much as expected. I’ve found the power accuracy to be solid when comparing it against my Powertap P1 Dual-Sided power meter pedals. As expected, the Rivo remains within the 2.5 % claimed accuracy.

Worth the buy?

The Elite Rivo certainly met my expectations. Coming into the review, I knew that the Rivo used the same resistance unit as some of Elite’s other trainers, so the poor-performing virtual shifting was expected. I’m very hopeful that Elite works to change the style of their resistance unit so that they can provide a solid virtual shifting experience.

Whether you choose to purchase the Elite Rivo or one of its competitors (like the KICKR Core 2 or Jetblack Victory) will likely come down to availability. With all of these trainers being so close in price and performance, those in the U.S. will likely lean toward the KICKR Core 2, while those in Europe may find it easier to purchase an Italy-based Elite trainer. Within these three options, there are a few minor differences that you may want to consider: