daniel5791 wrote:Hi All,

Also as a side issue, what would a fair price from a private seller be for one of these in great working condition?

Thanks in advance for your help

Daniel

Around $350 US for a professionally reconditioned unit has been about average. There is an Austrailian vendor who has what looks to be a good one for $595 AU which translates to slightly more.

Thanks!

Yes I saw that one at Sorrentina and it's very tempting....There's two others I have my eye on that are fairly cheap in comparison at the moment, so I will see how they go first.

daniel5791 wrote:Thanks!

Yes I saw that one at Sorrentina and it's very tempting....There's two others I have my eye on that are fairly cheap in comparison at the moment, so I will see how they go first.

I know you're out of the USA, but Orphan Espresso has a Caravel, fully restored for $325 American.
http://www.orphanespresso.com

daniel5791 wrote:Thanks!

Yes I saw that one at Sorrentina and it's very tempting....There's two others I have my eye on that are fairly cheap in comparison at the moment, so I will see how they go first.

My approach has been to buy from vendors who have lots of experience with the product and have the reputation of delivering it in quality condition. That's been my ongoiing experience with orphanespresso from who I've purchased several items. I'm guessing that taking into account the difference in the AU dollar and US plus shipping there isn't much difference in the cost for you between the Sorrentina machine and the one at Orphan. Because it is an exact match with mine I've considered the Sorrentina one myself.

orphanespresso wrote:Danno, you could give a good input on this with your experience with motorcylces. what do you prefer? Original, restored to original, or custom?

Um, well, vintage Italian bikes and vintage Italian espresso machines are Italian, but I don't know if that qualifies me to be knowledgeable.

Until the late '80's, really early '90's, Italian paint and hardware finish on motorcycles was abysmal. Re-paints are common, sometimes desirable. Most moto-Italophiles I know prefer a good-looking bike to one that is 100% original. Only in rare instances does the original finish add much value.

My philosophy is if the thing is yours and you want a different color, paint it. If you end up selling, be prepared for a hit in sale price unless (a) the color is an exact match, (b) it is a very good paint job, or (c) someone else likes what you did if you painted a different color. In my experience, there is always someone who shares another's tastes.

I think the Caravel is simple and elegant enough to warrant painting.

danno wrote:[snipped]
My philosophy is if the thing is yours and you want a different color, paint it. If you end up selling, be prepared for a hit in sale price unless (a) the color is an exact match, (b) it is a very good paint job, or (c) someone else likes what you did if you painted a different color. In my experience, there is always someone who shares another's tastes.

I think the Caravel is simple and elegant enough to warrant painting.

Have to agree there. I can't see why anyone who uses it, even occasionally would want to sell. They are hard to get a hold of, and in the event your triple boiler, gold plated uber machine ever goes on the fritz, you're good to go with your hard to break Caravel.

Hello all. First post here. I've been following the site for a year or so and have benefitted enormously from the forums. Without HB I would still be living in the land of pressurized portafilters and using beans with a "best before" date.

Thanks to this thread, and the good folk at Orphan Espresso, I recently picked up a Caravel to use in my office (I've got an Elektra Semi [thank you Jim Schulman for your review] and a Maccap M4 at home) and was initially experiencing absolutely fabulous shots with it using Intelly's Sumatra SO espresso. What a wonderful machine! The Caravel shots with the Sumatra were of an order of magnitude better than what I was able to get out of the Elektra: they were full bodied and balanced, while the Elektra shots were uncharacteristically thin and fast. The Caravel extractions took 45-60 seconds and required a very heavy pull.

Two weeks later, I'm out of the Sumatra and using Black Cat (roasted at the same time as the Sumatra, received 2 wks after roast (thank you Canada Customs) and kept in the freezer for two weeks after delivery). I cannot pull a decent shot with the BC on the Caravel no matter what dose or grind variations I try (using a KyM handgrinder). The shots are so thin as to not be recognizable as espresso. There is no crema, only an odd oily film. Grinding finer doesn't seem to help, and I can increase the dose without any improvement, to the point of stalling the machine. The beans aren't as fresh as I would like, but yet I have no problem getting heavy, crema laden shots out of the Elektra using the same beans. After four sink shots in a row today with the Caravel, I thought it's time to canvas some opinions.

Is it just a matter of playing around with the dose and grind? Or do some blends work better with levers than others? Or have I perhaps blown a gasket?

I suspect I got lucky with the Sumatra and there's no shortcut in dialing in a blend, but I'd appreciate your thoughts. And thank you all for your contagious enthusiasm and for sharing your love of caffe.

Brad

If you can choke the machine, then back off a little and get those no-crema shots than the beans are bad. Example: I often need to use commercial Italian "best before" beans. These are obviously old, but when they are factory sealed, and stored in the freezer after opening, I can consistently pull drinkable espresso with them. BUT, if the bag was not properly sealed at the factory or had a hole, they are hopeless even right after opening.

I've had the same thing happen even with good, locally roasted beans. If they go past a month or more old, they start to go off.

Both of these would probably still pour better with a pump machine, as least by looks (ie plenty of crema).

if you can stall the machine the seals should be ok.

Thanks very much, Peaceup. A colleague happened to drop by with a 2 kilo bag of donkeyblend, and I'm back pulling decent shots. I wouldn't have suspected that the beans were the problem.