Happy New Year! Castle Hubjub remains sunk in torpor (courtesy of my dad, not exactly animated in midsummer and approaching narcolepsy in winter) but the year is off to a riproaring hogsnorting start thanks to the Cycling Plus review of the Scorcher. The bike scored 9/10 across the board and was listed as a future star of 2006. I will inevitably get highlights up on the Gaansari pages within a couple of days, but you can read the full version (with nice photos) in C+ #179. I used Xmas to clear the email backlog and am beginning to work back through the photos that should have gone on the Blog in the last quarter. Strict reverse date order means that first up is Nigel Hetchin's Mercian. Long-time One Cog Blog readers will be aware of Nigel's penchant for shooting bikes in rural locations, and this is no exception.. The eagle-eyed among you will note the postmodern combination of period lugwork with radial spoking. A Shadow chain will stir things up yet more. Nigel claims that that Brooks Swallow is original new-old stock.

O Lord, help me to be the man my Roboraptor thinks I am ie a psycho with an unlimited supply of AA batteries. The promised cold snap would have been fun for those of us with solid fuel boilers and a fondness for scavenging. Instead we seem to have settled into a pattern of louring skies and thin drizzle, not fun at all if you're out with a handsaw looking for windfall. Minute bit of good cheer from the much-delayed arrival of the Shadow chains, a little bit of reflected glory from the C+ review of the Scorcher, and here's Olaf Wiig's cargo bike, next in the sequence of customer bikes that should have been blogged in the autumn. It's resplendent with Hubjub goodies and proof positive that we like to equip all sorts.

The day broke bright and clear today but the woods are still pretty sticky so I left the handsaw in the outhouse and got on with some Blogging. It's been a pretty good Christmas for Hubjub -- better than '04, f'sure -- and now supplies are starting to thin out in a couple of areas. In particular, we're fresh out of ENOs, although there's rumour of a shipment. Bike of the day is Joaquin Sanchez' Blanca, another of those nice mix-ups: he lists Stronglight headset, Normandy and Miche hubs, Campy crank and bb, Vertex chain, Mavic stem and Nitto bars, that last being Hubjub-sourced. Joaquin is presently selling his Karate Monkey on eBay -- nice setup, if you don't fancy starting your own from scratch.

Just a quick note to say that I got the new Nitto order in, so the various people awaiting custom stuff should see it by month end.