Elite adds power meter pairing and core body temperature control to speed and heart rate in a new air-filtering smart fan for indoor training.

photography by Ronan Mc Laughlin

Elite, the Italian indoor trainer, bottle, and components brand, has one of the more interesting new products at Eurobike, in the shape of a prototype smart fan for indoor training. The Aria fan incorporates connected smart features with a well-considered design and claimed 30 mph (48 km/h) air speeds. 

The Aria fan on show is still a 3D-printed, albeit functional, prototype, with final production-ready models expected to be available from February of next year, priced at €290 (international pricing TBC). That’s a lot of money for a fan, but as we found out in CyclingTips’ indoor training fan testing, the right fan can make a crucial difference when it comes to indoor training. 

Much like the Wahoo Headwind smart fan, the new Elite Aria features ANT+ and Bluetooth to pair wirelessly with heart rate and speed, offering automatic fan control. But Elite has gone two steps further, incorporating power meter and body temperature sensor pairing. 

As part of our fan testing, we paired up with the folks at CORE to use their core body temperature sensors as one part of our analysis of the effectiveness of each fan type. Having utilised body temperature to help analyse the impact of different fan types on core body temperature during indoor training, it’s exciting to see Elite has incorporated this element as a connected feature on the new fan.

The Aria fan will pair with the Elite myETraining app allowing users to customise fan speed to power, heart rate, speed, and body temperature limits. 

Lastly, the new fan also offers good old fashioned manual control through the buttons up top. But please, Elite, maybe add a remote control before finalising the consumer-ready version of the Aria. As cool as connected automatic fan control is, it’s not for everyone, with some still favouring a handy bar-mounted remote.

Perhaps equally as important as airspeed is airflow direction and ensuring the fan is cooling the body. The Aria has a rectangular-shaped opening, the capability of which remains to be seen, but one immediately impressive feature is very easy angle adjustment. The Aira offers 10 tilt angle positions, easily adjusted by simply rotating the fan body up or down. Again, although we haven’t tried or reviewed the Aria in any detail yet, this introduction of a simple yet effective feature is another major plus. 

Furthermore, the new Aria features a same leather strap handle as used on Elite’s Rizer gradient simulator.

Elite has included a carbon-activated filter on each side of the Aria to filter the air blasted at our sweaty faces. Unable to source a filter capable of filtering air without negatively impacting airflow, Elite took the filter development in-house to create the filters shown in this prototype. While the prototype on show was a fully functional model, we haven’t yet had a chance to try a workout with the new fan, but it’s nice to think the air we are gulping down during full gas efforts in our dusty garages might be a little cleaner in the future.

How capable the Elite filters will be remains to be seen, and of course, the filters will be a replaceable part, so exactly how much they cost might well make or break the entire fan. We wait with dusty breath for more details and a review model from Elite. 

As noted, Elite is expecting a February 2023 official launch for the new Aria, with pricing expected to be around €290 … plus remote control (we hope). 

photography by Ronan Mc Laughlin