Indoor Cycling Setup v3

In a couple of previous blog posts I showed my indoor training setups, the first one in 2016 here, and then my improved one built in 2020 here.  In the last few days I've improved it further.

With hindsight, my cooling fan setup wasn't as good as it could be.  The cheap pedestal fan that I've used for the last four years couldn't provide enough flow and cooling for the warmest days or the hard workouts, although it was okay most of the time.

That has changed recently though, after I bought two Cleva centrifugal fans, after seeing some good reviews from people on the TrainerRoad Forum, who discussed UK alternatives to the Lasko fan that was highly recommended by tghe guys on the TrainerRoad podcast.

Initially, I bought a single Cleva Air Vacmaster Air Mover fan, which about  £50 at the time.  This was great, but it has a manual switch, so I also bought a remoted controlled plug set from Amazon for £18.99, to allow me to turn the fan on, after I warm up, about 5 minutes into the cycle.  The fan speed was excellent, but the fast moving air stream was quite narrow, not broad enough to cool my whole body.  Therefore I decided to buy a second fan to give me more complete body coverage.

The second Cleva fan I bought was their more expensive Vacmaster Cardio54, which I bought for £79.99.  It's identical to the cheaper Air Mover, except that it has a built in remote control which is slightly better because it also allows the speed to be selected from the remote, rather than just on/off.

As shown in the photo at the top, I have mounted these two fans in two positions in front of my bike and trainer, one directed at my head/torso from above and the other directed at the lower half of my body.  After some experimenting, I found this to be the best setup.

The lower fan was easy to position, and required only a small block to get the angle just right.  Also, it could stay in that position and wouldn't get in the way when I'm not cycling.

The upper fan was a bit more tricky though.  The fan is capable of being mounted to a standard tripod threaded attachment, or alternatively mounted onto a TV wall mount that has a VESA mount.  However I didn't really want to spend more money on a TV mount, so I re-purposed the fan swing arm from my old pedestal fan, as shown in the photo on the left, using a cylindrical wooden rod as the arm.  To attach the fan, I made a 3D-printed backet, using the 3D printer that I brought late last year.

I designed the bracket in Autodesk Fusion 360, which is free CAD software. I incorporated a quick release mechanism into the bracket, re-using an old QR seat post clamp that I had spare.

This allows the angle to be tilted to the best angle to direct air on my head and upper body.  The swing arm allows the upper fan to fold out of the way, against the wall, when not in use.

I'm really pleased with the new setup.  The amount of cooling is excellent, and in the colder winter months it is occasionally even too much, even on the lowest setting.  On those colder days, I only turn the lower fan on.  The photos below show the setup with everything in place (left), and on the right it's hwo it looks when everything is folded away to make more space in my garage.