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He he he. Here it is. Very happy.

Eh this is a difficult thread to read... first time in ten years I haven't entered (yet). Had to bail last minute last year as the opportunity for work suddenly popped up. Still waiting to see what's-what for this year but the training hasn't been happening. If I'm lucky, it may become a really last minute LSD training ride!

That does look good... Couple of nice options out there. Thanks for the feedback. However. Seems the other half and someone who eats this stuff for breakfast (the best bike mechanic and awesome riding friend) are working together to find the birthday present

Is a good price. Solomons has it at more.

Yes, been looking at that - good price and decent-looking. Easybike also have a more expensive set, with more attachments including the extension. BUT settings start at 6 [edit:5] nm which is a pity as otherwise it ticks all the boxes. Still looking for the BBB one people were keen on. So far the Giant looks the best all-round, except I need to confirm its range, that info isn't clear. Edit: 5nm looks OK - might go with this then: https://www.easybike.co.za/radon-professional-torque-wrench-set-5-25-nm.html

Thanks for the feedback - much appreciated. Budget is not great so will probably stick with something generic and non-digital. That Giant wrench looks like good value. Am also considering these two at EVObikes: https://www.evobikes.co.za/torque-wrench-set-2-24nm.html https://www.evobikes.co.za/workshop-tool-torque-wrench-2-14nm.html

Thanks, looks good. Is this what you're using? Digital is better/worth it?

Resurrection... any updates/ideas on what to get today? Preferably local? Have read through a couple of threads and the BBB torque wrench seems to have got the majority vote. What would you recommend that's not going to blow the budget?

Hope you’re getting good rest now. Home for Christmas sounds like the best medicine too!

If you did a cost comparison between using the "cheap" coal and the more expensive higher grade rocks but factored in maintenance and failures (forgetting the secondary costs of load shedding) I wonder how that would work out... J-B Styan describes how far out of their depth the Eskom people negotiating these contracts are. I also remember the strike(s) at Medupi over the packaged meals that were provided. They were pretty substantial but apparently they were "inadequate" because they were not canteen meals... Conspiracy theory alert: I'd bet there was someone standing ready with another catering contract "just waiting" for this strike.

Here we go, the article I referred to: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/324320-eskoms-medupi-nightmare.html Which ends with this: In summary, the known problems at Eskom’s Medupi power station include: The main conveyor from Grootegeluk mine feeding coal to Medupi failed, causing belt and structural damage. Protection devices on the conveyor failed to detect the fault timeously. The stacker/reclaimers at the Medupi coal stockyard are not working, and the coal stockyard is thus bypassed. Coal was being transported by truck from the stockyard to the boiler bunkers, causing massive congestion and forcing reduced power output of the generators. The coal mills are of wrong design, causing excessive wear and tear, with increased maintenance and downtime. The design height of the boilers is inadequate (i.e. too low), thus causing excessive temperatures within the boiler and flue gas. Excessive flue gas temperature is causing premature failure of the pulse-jet fabric filters, which are essential for fly ash collection and pollution control. The ash handling system is unable to cope with the volume of bottom ash and fly ash from the boilers.

The one who left for the UK - was he possibly the manager? I'm sure I heard that he had resigned as the **** was hitting the fan. My fear is that any sane person left will leave. There are so many (don't shoot me) under-currents at play here I don't know how anyone is going to pull it all back together again. Who would stay to deal with the unions, the corruption and the incompetence??? Apparently in October the main mechanism for getting coal into the boilers at Medupi wasn't working (and still doesn't) which is why they were using the conveyor belt overtime from the Grootgeluk (??) mine, so then that went poof due to sludge from low grade coal (wet coal dust) and the sensors supposed to pick up any problems failed, so then there was a 700m section of proprietary belt stuffed up, and they had to truck the coal in, so then people who should have been clearing ash out the other end were pulled in to get the coal off the jam of trucks double parking and into the boilers and that meant that insufficient ash was being moved out the other end and so on (ad nauseam)... oh yes also the design doesn't work as intended because there is insufficient height for cooling (this is from memory, so please correct the technical stuff) and the plant temperature runs too high also the boiler design is faulty (perhaps linked to above?). Hitachi GMBH got the tender to design the boiler by hook and crook over others because a shareholder was... Chancellor House, the investment arm for the ANC. I think Mendi Msimang was ANC Treasurer at the time but Zweli Mkhize took over from him. Look at him now. Mr (sorry Dr) squeaky clean, in charge of the NHI. The coal contracts start to go (very) pear-shaped when Brian Molefe gets involved, shafting Anglo American in favour of the Guptas. They pushed Optimum Colliery into bankruptcy and used that process to grab tenders for Tegeta for Eskom's coal supply. Coal prices have increased so two things happen. Where they can't fleece the contract price (because the price of coal is fixed) they make it up on charging nicely for transporting the coal... and Eskom gets low grade coal because something like 75 percent is being exported. I think India now is importing much of the higher grade coal (which burns better). And I'm sure you'll see many ex Eskom employees and engineers involved in building India's power stations. Medupi and Kusile (also Ingula) were bespoke designs. That opened the door for all kinds of crookery over contracts for design and build. Neither are completed yet either. I think the new date for Medupi is 2021 and 2023 for Kusile. It's not just that there are technical problems, it's that the system has been bent into using tenders and contracts to run the ANC (including election funding campaigns) and of course then the diversion into "fees" for middlemen who added buggerall to the process and created a patronage system like the one Ace Magashule (and oom Gwede?) runs. I'd love to see a proper analysis of what money went where - like how much "fixers" were paid to negotiate contracts and source diesel. The question is if there's a SINGLE piece of the system that isn't corrupted. The same thing is happening in municipalities. Three books to read to see how this all fits together: James-Brent Styan's Blackout: The Eskom Crisis https://www.loot.co.za/product/james-brent-styan-blackout/fvtz-3363-ga50 Crispin Olver: How to Steal a City http://www.jonathanball.co.za/component/virtuemart/how-to-steal-a-city-detail?Itemid=6 Johan van Loggerenberg: Rogue: the inside story of SARS's elite crime-busting unit https://www.warbooks.co.za/products/rogue-the-inside-story-of-sarss-elite-crime-busting-unit-johann-van-loggerenberg-and-adrian-lackay?variant=182411165699

I saw a pretty good summary of the current issues- trying to find it again ????Seems Kusile and Medupi (and the ANC-Guptas) are the biggest log breaking the camel’s back, but it includes dodgy coal deals (low grade coal, so wet sludge, jammed conveyor belts) besides the cock up of designs for Medupi and Kusile and the building delays. Which if I remember right also involved squabbles over catering and contracts. Will see if I can find that article but meanwhile there is this: https://www.fin24.com/Budget/how-medupi-and-kusile-are-sinking-south-africa-20191009

No, what I meant was, the rot that went before had no one chirping about political interference etc. But now everyone expects 15+ years of bad decisions, greed and stupidity to be fixed over night. You may not like Gordhan, but he certainly knew how to set something up at SARS. I'm not wearing rose-tinted spectacles when it comes to Rama and co. They are what they are. Political interference is the first of our big problems. (Would you [or anyone you know] take the job of Eskom CEO right now???)

She has a point. But I don't like her nails. More seriously, it boggles my brain that when there is a Minister like Gordhan trying to get things turned around you have someone on the board chirping. Why only now?

Unfortunately I believe you. Take it up with the shop you made the purchase from. Make an official complaint. I did that as I had paid good money for delivery and, fortunately, had that good money refunded. Their tracking info is at very best an hallucination. I wonder if they do better in JHB/Gauteng than elsewhere. I noticed my stuff came via Bidvest cargo -- SAA? No idea.

Awesome to have an update thank you ???? hugs from afar for both of you.

I can prove - I have the screenshots, emails and two long stories that UPS is the problem. My bet is they actually don't know where stuff is. Their systems don't work and neither do some of their staff one of whom was requested numerous times by a supervisor to bill me but a) didn't and b) didn't have the decency to explain why not. One of my most recent shipments was dispatched from Merlin in two parts (simultaneously) with two tracking numbers. Both arrived in SA together, cleared customs on the same day. But the one was then tracked as being back in Germany and then back in SA. And then in SA while also in Germany. Apparently... As I said, it's a long and winding story. And a second BAD experience in a month. Multiple phone calls, emails etc. They make excuses about not having commercial invoices (when they do, my first experience), not having had the shipment billed, and of course that the item has not been cleared by customs (when tracking shows it has). There are some very helpful people at UPS. One of them is a guy called Colin who himself said to me you have no idea about what goes on. I got to know him quite well. This has nothing to do with Black Friday or whatever. By comparison, Aramex GS was an absolute pleasure. And the parcel I had shipped from the States left California on the same day as my Merlin shipment, travelled by road to NY, where AGS picked it up a week later and arrived at my house the day after the Merlin shipment - so, 6 days faster for a much more complicated process. They were prompt, professional and very reasonably priced. Oh, and their tracking in SA also works unlike UPS. I could see when they hit the local depot so knew when to be home to expect my parcel, besides which, they phoned when they hit town. UPS says your stuff is still in JHB but then pitches up at your house to deliver when you don't expect it. Believe me, there is a reason UPS is no longer CRC's courier.

Anyone spoken to Cois? Hope you’re doing OK and the focus is on recovery.

I'll second this. Have just received my first order through Aramex Global and service and timing was top notch. UNLIKE UPS (which I moaned about earlier)... a bad experience followed by another. I had a purchase released from customs on the 19th and it took UPS until the 27th to get it out of customs and into their warehouse. Apparently. I am quite sure they had no cooking clue where it was. The invoice was dated the 22nd but I received it after a lot of begging and pleading and emails back-and-forth only on the 28th. They have some helpful people but somewhere something is seriously broken inside their systems. Aramex was a breeze and their tracking is accurate. Using AGS is also very reasonably priced. Good for them.

Parts where it becomes a freeway yes but not the entire N road

Looking forward to your next post Cois, it's been a long road for you to get to this point, that is an incredible achievement. All the best.

WTF That Box is going to get some proper karma coming "it's" way. Anywhere/anyway this can be shared on Facebook??

Horrible weather don’t know how you’ve done it well done David!