Owen got a new bike for Christmas – a Nukeproof Cub Scout 26. He has outgrown his previous Vitus Nucleus 24, both in size and ability. The Nukeproof is a step up from the Vitus, despite being similar on paper. Main benefits of the Nukeproof are the bolt thru axle, a “proper” fork and Maxxis Minion tyres (as currently fitted to my Orange Four). I knew that they did a candy red version a few years ago, so that was my target, as red is Owen’s favourite colour – we have just painted his bedroom red.

I bought the bike secondhand, but when I got it home and gave it a thorough service I started to notice a few problems, such as broken spokes, a cracked hub and a general lack of maintenance. After rebuilding the wheels and refreshing some parts it is spot on though. Owen wants to swap in the saddle and dropper post from his old bike, but given this bike was a surprise I could not do that before Christmas.

Before he knew he would be getting a new bike, I had suggested to Owen that we ride to my parents house for second Christmas on Boxing Day – it is a good ride and a good excuse to burn off some turkey before another day of feasting. Of course, it would also be an ideal shakedown ride for Owen’s new bike. Owen wanted to take a slightly longer route, to incorporate some trails through the woods, the ride ended up being 16km in total – over about two hours. Not a bad pace given the mud in the woods. The shakedown went well, the main issue that Owen noticed was that I had forgotten to fit the mudguard that I bought.