JohnB. wrote:Nice deal on the SJ. I've bought them for less but they never looked that good & the burrs were shot. K100 & Frey Daytonas??

Good eye!
1989 K100RS ABS Special Edition.. 200k on it...
Old Joe Rocket boots that are waiting to be donated.

Behind me while taking the pic in garage is a 99 R1100S, 07 G650X-Country (Wifes). I now ride in BMW All Around boots and Sidi something or others for the aggressive days
Matt

Drumroll please:

A Conti Empress here in the Bay Area, now in my dining room.



It's a long story, a trail that ran cold this summer when I found out about it and the seller dropped contact and I didn't want to bother him to the point of pissing him off. I dropped one little reminder email back in October that went unanswered, and then, after reading the Conti Prestina thread that Gary started about the eBay unit that just sold, I thought I'd see if I could track the guy down. Third time is a charm I suppose.



He has the lid somewhere in his basement with his incredible collection of espresso machines scattered everywhere, so when he finds that he said he'd give it to me. The only other things it's missing is the portafilter and a lever handle arm. I did some ground work earlier this summer with Allann Brothers and had a lead on one that was from the same era but not the D shaped shovel handle. I'll be spending the next few weeks doing some homework on the rebuild. Oddly, I tried to thread on my Strega's handle, and it didn't seem to want to thread although I could get it started. I didn't use any force, not wanting to screw anything up.

The case and the faceplate, and drip tray are only slightly oxidized in need of a polish. There's not a ding or scratch to be found anywhere. I took about 45 seconds to quickly polish the upper corner here to reveal how it will look after a lot of elbow grease, it polishes up like a chrome hood ornament. Chrome plated brass from the parts I can see. It still has the original Sopac Pstat. Their is still water in the boiler.

Another cool thing is the original Bakelite handles are completely undamaged and uncracked.



This one is going to be fun. It's a beauty. I'll start a rebuild thread and document it's rebuild.

Wow! Great find Tom. Merry Christmas to you

Amazing score, Tom! It seems all vintage lever machines go to "heaven" (i.e., San Francisco)

Ok, I've been lurking around here for a long time learning all kinds of good stuff and finally decided to actually become a member. I figured this would be a great thread for my first post based on what I found yesterday.

I'm always looking for coffee gear to add to my collection and have had some pretty good success over the years (including a Rancilio Silvia in great shape for $70 two weeks ago).

Yesterday at lunch I visited a flea market near my office and found this PeDe Dienes grinder for $8. It was tucked away on the bottom shelf of a book case. It doesn't even look like it's ever had coffee run through it. Can't wait to get it all cleaned up this weekend and see how well it works.

Can anyone give me more info on it - model, year, etc? From researching a little online, it looks like maybe it's a model 5284, but I can't tell for sure.

PeDe's are great grinders! Good find! Some are good at fine grinds, some aren't. You just have to try it out. There has been a lot of talk on here about PeDe hand grinders and other similar hand grinders, so take a look around. There are a few folks on here that know a lot about old hand grinders. Peacecup is one of them.

Brian, welcome to Home-Barista!

Nice grinder! It looks to be in great condition as well.

bctgrad wrote: Can anyone give me more info on it - model, year, etc? From researching a little online, it looks like maybe it's a model 5284, but I can't tell for sure.

Looks like this model 5226:

http://www.dienes.fr/picsengine/#page=a ... /album=270

Nice find.