Tech of the week: an affordable smart bike from Decathlon, a super-chunky Garmin watch, wavy carbon wheels, a carbon fork for the adventurous and pink tyres for dashing Brompton owners

The new year can be a transformative moment for cyclists. It's a time for reflection and for looking forward. You can choose to set goals or make plans, press reset or opt to repeat. However last year panned out, we can all make a toast to starting over once again.

For many, getting fitter will be the primary aim. Aligning this with the winter weather always seems a tad cruel, making committing to a bout of indoor training likely the lesser of two evils. With this in mind, we have an affordable smart bike from Decathlon on show, as well as two new products from Garmin - a smartwatch and a heart rate monitor. Both of these can be worn outdoors of course if you prefer the open roads to the garden shed.

But a renewed approach can also be aided by a change in components, and there's little better for stoking the fires than a fresh set of wheels, tyres, and perhaps even a fork. We've got three high-performance offerings here: a lightweight road wheelset built in the UK, a commuter tyre for folding bikes and a carbon fork for adventurers.

Decathlon Training Bike 900

While many of the best smart bikes are loaded with features, they can also cost a small fortune. Not so the Training Bike 900 from Decathlon.

It offers connectivity to Decathlon’s app and Kinomap, as well as third-party training apps like Zwift, Rouvy and BKool. You can also pair it with a heart rate monitor or smartwatch. And if you just want to plug in and go, the LED console, which rotates through 360 degrees, will show you all the basic metrics, including speed, distance, duration of workout and calories burned.

The bike offers 32 resistance levels alongside an automatic setting that adjusts to simulate a climb or a descent. The maximum resistance is 1000 watts, which is far less than many of its more expensive competitors, but likely enough for the target audience. Other details include a 13 kg magnetic freewheel and a belt drive, which should make it fairly quiet when in use.

Decathlon says the bike takes just 30 minutes to assemble and can be adjusted for the individual via the handlebars and the saddle. And the price? £599.

Garmin Instinct 3 and HRM 200

Garmin’s already extensive smartwatch line-up has grown a little larger with the addition of the Instinct 3.

It’s promoted as being ‘designed for adventure’ and it does appear to cut a pretty rugged silhouette. The case features a reinforced bezel and case alongside a scratch-resistant display. It’s shock and thermal-resistant as well being rated to 100 metres in depth. There’s even a built-in flashlight with a strobe mode. Multiband GPS also adds to its adventure credentials.

Offered in two sizes, 45mm and 50mm, it’s built around an AMOLED screen. There’s a solar model too, which Garmin says compared to the previous version “gets more than five times the battery life in GPS mode when solar charging”.

For many the appeal of a smartwatch is its ability to track your health and wellbeing around the clock. With this in mind, the Instinct 3 offers a slew of data, including heart rate, steps and advanced sleep monitoring. You can also receive a morning report, letting you know how well you slept as well as showing you the day’s calendar.

It has multiple sport modes including, of course, cycling. Prices start at £349.99.

Garmin has also added to its heart rate monitor range with the HRM 200. It’s said to deliver reliable heart rate and heart rate variability data and is compatible with your smartwatch, Garmin Edge computer and smart trainer. The replaceable battery has a claimed life of a year, with a small LED letting you know when it’s low. Offered in two strap sizes it retails at £79.99.

VeloElite RF50 Flux wheels

While we’ve seen wavy rimmed wheels before, it’s a look that catches the eye. VeloElite has chosen the distinctive design for its new RF50 Flux wheelset. Created primarily for UK riding conditions, the 50/45mm rim depth looks to meld aerodynamic performance with assured handling, while the 21mm internal measurement makes it a good match for modern road tyre widths. The raw gloss finish only adds to the visual impact.

The rims are paired with Tune hubs, complete with ceramic bearings, and Sapim CX Ray spokes, 24 front and rear. It all adds up to a wheelset with a claimed weight of just 1325g. Handbuilt in the UK, the retail price is £1,850.

Goodyear Eagle F1R 16” tyres

Is this the first high-performance road tyre created for folding bikes? Goodyear has taken its Eagle F1 formula - low rolling resistance, a supple 120tpi casing and a Shield R puncture protection strip - that it uses for its 700c race tyres and applied to a 16” version aimed at the ‘serious’ commuter.

But while the 30mm, 120g tyres are designed to deliver speed, cornering safety, and puncture resistance, Goodyear hasn’t overlooked their appearance too - alongside the traditional black you can also get the Eagle F1Rs with transparent, yellow, purple and pink sidewalls.

No. 6 Adventure fork

No. 6 Composites, sister brand of No. 22 Bicycles (the observant among you may notice a theme here), has introduced its new carbon Adventure Fork as an aftermarket upgrade for any compatible frame from any brand.

It features sizeable +5mm clearance for 50mm x 700c tyres, fender mounts, accessory mounts, internal dynamo routing and semi-internal and internal cable routing options.

Weight is a respectable 440g, with an uncut 350mm steerer, and price is $525.