Let’s talk about new car tests.

When I first started writing them, about ten years ago, I said to myself that I was not – simply not – going to write wishy washy, shades-of-grey tests.

If the car has good points, I would emphasise them. If the car had bad points, I would emphasise them. I would not do as so many others do, and that is to use trendy, chatty writing to disguise that in fact little was actually being said about what made a car good or bad.

The results of the approach that I have taken has been threefold.

One: some manufacturers no longer lend us cars to test, something I have covered at length previously.

Two: in discussion groups and in emails I cop a lot of criticism – I’m a dickhead, on the payroll of a company, don’t know what I am talking about, don’t understand the concept of the car, and so on.

Three: I am happy with the work I have done, knowing that I have never kowtowed to vested interests to write a report that pulls punches or says nothing much.

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I loved buying tools and relish for years afterwards their effectiveness. I am not talking tools like spanners and screwdrivers, but things that are much less common.

One example is my tube bender. Small benders for tube and pipe come in two complexions: those that use a hydraulic jack and inside formers, and those that use hand power and inside and outside dies. The hydraulic benders are designed to be used with thick-walled pipe and the latter, hand-operated, designs are for smaller diameter, thin-wall tube.

Primarily to help build my recumbent pedal trike, about 9 months ago I bought one of the hand machines. It has dies for 3/8 – 7/8 inch round tube and ¾ – 1 inch square tube.

And, for a cheap machine, it works very well. When bending high tensile 7/8 inch chrome-moly tube (something it’s not meant to do!), I place an extension on its handle to apply greater leverage. However, for smaller tube sizes, the standard handle is sufficient.

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