We do not seem to have one here! At the back end of 2012, Glenn, the original forum owner was lent a prototype L1 for a couple of weeks, and wrote entries on the forum highlighting his experiences. I was so enthused with his reporting, that I immediately ordered one! In those days, from order to delivery was a strange affair. As folks will know, the machines are assembled and dispatched by Fracino from their Birmingham factory. When you have a machine built for you, I guess you are at the beck and call of the manufacturer, so a certain amount of factory time was put aside each week/month and that is now it was. I eventually after 2 months or so received notice that I was lucky enough to jump up the queue. I had ordered the Luxe version with glass sides displaying the internals. After a period of time, I think Londinium woke up to the fact that the L1 was really most suited to people who drank medium/plus beans. It had no bells or whistles but did produce good coffee. Realising that the market was larger for lighter roast drinkers, then the LR came out which eventually over years morphed into the LR24, the current version. Each model had various tweaks enabling the ‘shandy drinkers’ to partake at the alter. I still own a 2014 version of the L1. My son uses it these days. Even though I have migrated on to a different lever these days, the L1 still played a part in my conversion. Any other owners?

Have always lusted after one (but can’t bring myself to put down 2.8k for it) and consider it my end-game machine simply because of the romanticism and infinite range for manipulation of the lever pull and its sheer beauty; but have never used a lever before and am alive to the possibility that I might hate it after I get it..?

i too had an original 2014 londinium l1 was a very good machine, and to this day still the nicest looking thing ive had on my work top. i got a bit of upgraditus, wanted a new machine, as i had to spend a bit of money replacing things so i lost a bit of faith in the l1, rightly or wrongly. im now onto a dual boiler minima, but i do miss the love affair that is a lever, and imo theres no other lever i would have over a londinium, funds allowing.

dfk41 I still own a 2014 version of the L1. My son uses it these days. Even though I have migrated on to a different lever these days, the L1 still played a part in my conversion. Any other owners? I too bought an L1 in 2014. I believe it was the second iteration of the original machine; for example, it had the snap on covers. I still use it daily. Over the years I have upgraded the pump, pressurestat, safety and anti-vac valves, and replaced the original wedge handles with custom-made maple. By judicious use of flushing and temperature monitoring of the group, I am able to get good extractions from the lightest of roasts. At the moment, I see no reason to ever replace it.

I had the L1 that @Cuprajake had, I sold it to him. I was very pleased with it and if I’m honest, it catered for all my needs. I got upgradeitis and was on the lookout for an LR (which would have been my endgame machine) just at the time when there was talk of a new fangled lever from ACS and I put a deposit down on one of those. I’m sure that if I still had the L1 I would still be happy with it. I never had much occasion to contact Reiss but when I did , I found him helpful.

I use LR (2017) with added digital pre-infussion kit.

Anyone keeping an eye on the Vectis now that some progress has been made?

MediumRoastSteam Anyone keeping an eye on the Vectis now that some progress has been made? It’s hard not to with all the information coming out about it.

MediumRoastSteam I believe it is any day now. Apparently the latest hold up is making the cases. Then presumably they have to book time of the Fracino assembly line.

The Londinium thread

LMSC

Cuprajake theres no other lever i would have over a londinium, funds allowing.

I don’t want to be seen starting x vs y discussion. That’s not the intent.

I had never owned an expensive machine before Evo. I thought a lot before paying the deposit in April last year. The lever appealed to me a lot. I only looked at LR24, although I knew I can’t afford for reasons of maintaining peace and harmony at home. I had spent a lot of time reading the L threads before looking at the Evo.

But, I would really like to know what makes it tick for you over Izzo, Evo and to be released Nurri! I am aware you are hyper noise sensitive. If we exclude that variable for a moment, what happens to your choice?

Thx

Cuprajake

sure,

when i was looking the leva was just being born, but i did liked the group, the pump, and the side loading water, and the spring clip on the bottom,

other options were the strega and the izzo, but both were not perfect for my situation, iirc there was another which was plumb only, strega basically used the lever as a pump trigger and a vibe at that

dont get me wrong, the lr or lr24 has its quirks but, for me it was an obvious choice over the l1.

would i swap the bianca for an lr i probably would, is it as good as a bianca possibly not

LMSC

Fair assessment Jake. Thank you.

So, to me, you’re skewed to LR24 as there isn’t a suitable alternative; Evo’s pump noise is a problem for you.

But, the Lr is not quite there as Bianca is so good and hard to beat.

No one has come forward to try and swap the Evo pump. It fills faster and am not sure what a cost-effective alternative would be. Perhaps, Dave and Paolo knows.

Nurri is interesting and will be good to see some detailed review. I wonder if some one known to us is already at it! 😉😁

Waiting, watching and assessing are the best outcome under current circumstances.

DavecUK

LMSC Nurri is interesting and will be good to see some detailed review. I wonder if some one known to us is already at it!

I will be getting an early pre-production one to have a look at and give some engineering feed bac. Antonio who is a Friend of mine asked BB to send it to me so I could have a look. It should come this week.

Cuprajake

ive not even looked at the nurri,

i dont think there is a perfect machine, theres always a compromise, im not a fan of a gear pump, id of been a Vesuvius owner if not for the pump/water fill

im sure they could add a rotary to a leva, but there would be a cost to it, and not sure its worth it,

LMSC

Cuprajake could add a rotary to a leva, but there would be a cost to it, and not sure its worth it,

Agree.

If someone is ready to spend closer to £2.5K, an additional £100 should not matter, IMO, assuming that’s the difference in cost. I do not know what difference a rotary would make to the water fill rate / pressure during the PI versus what they already have in Evo.

DavecUK I will be getting an early pre-production one to have a look at and give some engineering feed bac. Antonio who is a Friend of mine asked BB to send it to me so I could have a look. It should come this week.

Good stuff. I assume we won’t get to read your pre-production review minus the engineering feedback! 😊

DavecUK

LMSC no because it’s on a pre production build that will change prior to launch.

PortafilterProcrastinator

@DavecUK Conscious we don’t want to go too off-topuc with this being the Londinium thread, but didn’t Antonio work for ACS? Is there a link there between the approach being taken to lever technology?

MediumRoastSteam

PortafilterProcrastinator - I saw some cad rendering on the web and the Nurri machine looks really nice. Apparently it has some sort of venting of the group functionality if you want to “kill” the shot.

It looks remarkably similar to the Evo Leva. :-)

Might be a good idea to keep this thread to Londinium and move the posts talking bout the Nurri and Evo to its own thread. @DavecUK

DavecUK

youClown You don’t know until you try….although it is expensive. Perhaps the Vectis will be more affordable when it comes out.

Manipulating the lever without some kind of pressure feedback isn’t really possible, as surprisingly light pressures can affect things. With the single spring the range to work in is fairly small.

Phil104

Bringing this thread back to life and given the other Londinium posts, with some wariness, although I have always enjoyed using my L1.

I have a 2014 L1, which has been out of action for nearly two years and I have now eventually fixed it (well, managed to find someone who could do it for me). The thing is that I have can only vaguely remember the recipe that I followed, which was originally suggested by Callum (who worked with Lee at Foundry Roasters), and which worked for me.

The bit I can remember is 17gms in, 34gms out, a pre-infusion time of, I think 6 seconds, and the part I am vaguest about, something like a 36 second pour.

Can anyone please help by either confirming the timings of this recipe or an alternative.

Thank you very much, in anticipation.

dfk41

Phil104 Congratulations! Things have moved on slightly in the last couple of years. Are you using the stock baskets that came with the machine? If so, from memory, they accept a dose up to 18.5 gms or so, so it is just a question of playing around to see what taste you enjoy the most. As far as pre infusion goes, I think the recommendation was once you pull the lever down, then you would expect to see the first drips into the cup around the 4 to 6 second mark. Any longer, loosen off and vice versa. Then whilst getting the right pre infusion/grinder settings you need to remember to sort your tamp out. Many folks (not I though) favour these tampers that allow you to tamp to the same pressure every time.

If the machine has been out of commission, have you changed all the seals?

Systemic

Phil104 The bit I can remember is 17gms in, 34gms out, a pre-infusion time of, I think 6 seconds, and the part I am vaguest about, something like a 36 second pour.

2014 would put received thinking about L1 espresso as darker roasts for which Reiss recommended even smaller doses - 15-16grms with a very short pre-infusion and an extraction ratio of 1:1.5 - 1:2. all done in around 27 - 30secs.

Callum really knew his stuff in getting the best out of the L1 and his recommendations pointed in the direction of using medium roasts.

mathof2

I too have a 2014 L1. The parameters you remember seem right to me, assuming you are using medium to medium-dark beans and traditional grinder burrs.

Phil104

dfk41 Thanks Dave ( and @mathof2)

I didn’t stay with the stock basket for long and latterly used an E&B Lab superfine 16/18 gm.

Since they launched, I’ve always used a Push tamper, which works for me (helps me manage another variable).

Ah, seals. I changed them about six months before the safety valve and pressure switch stopped doing what they should have been doing. Do you think that I should still change them? (I’m waiting for the weekend to fire up the machine - work keeps getting in the way).

Thank you again.

dfk41

Phil104 If the seals on the piston need changed it will be pretty self evident ie the grab is at the wrong position, there maybe shudder as the lever retards. The seal in. the group on those machines unless you are using a Cafelat type (silicon) will probably be hard. Use something like a skewer to see if the seal feels soft…….mabe a more technically gifted member can offer the right way!

Phil104

dfk41 Fortunately the seals are okay. Switched everything on today and it all worked well - only had to sink three shots before I got it about right, then another couple to tweak. It feels good to be back to making espresso at home.

Grahamg

That recipe sounds pretty close to what I use to get good results from my medium roast South American beans (I’m a lover of the simple, chocolatey beans rather than light roasts).

I think my L1 is around 2016. Nothing had persuaded me to consider an upgrade, even the ACS leva, until they added that new feature of the ‘dump valve’ to cut the shot for the v2. Money is tight and priorities lie elsewhere so I’ll be running the Londinium for as long as possible unless my numbers come up…

Phil104

Systemic Thank you, Patrick, I’ve been aiming for 30 seconds, 1:2, and that is working okay to my taste. The question of roast style is interesting. I’ll reply about that to mathof2’s note.

mathof2

Initially, I had no interest in using my L1 for roasts lighter than medium. But a few years ago, I swapped the Mythos burrs out of my Kafatek Flat grinder for Kafatek’s proprietary Shrunken Light Medium ones. My only reason for doing so was curiosity, but about the same time I started experimenting with light and ultra-light roasts. It turned out that the new burrs favoured the lighter roasts, and the L1 had no problem with them. I’ve just had my morning flat white – made with a light (Agtron 81) El Salvador bean – and a 17/35 brew ration. The EY is about 22%. I can also easily extract the lightest of roasts on the L1 with ease now.

Phil104

mathof2 Early on, when I got my L1, it was at the start of my home making coffee efforts (I was late coming to coffee in any event) and I tried a range of roasts. When I got the L1 and Callum’s method, because he was working with Foundry Roasters at the time, I assumed that he was using medium light to light roasts (that was my perception of Foundry’s style based on buying their coffee). I have continued using roasts that are medium to light, mostly from the wonderful Crankhouse Coffee, and using the Niche grinder. At least to my taste, the extraction is easy and significantly, I enjoy what I produce.

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