Stanic

depends on how many drinks are made and what is your cleaning regime I make 3-4 doubles a day, cleaning with Espazzola after each shot and water backflush at the end of day, I drop the shower screen once a week and clean the group head as well, and I did a chemical cleaning plus re-greasing after 2,5 months of use, the insides were not terribly dirty but there was definitely a layer of the finest coffee particles and the output water when doing the chemical backflush was brownish, so I think it was certainly worth it I am planing to do the next round around end of November/begin

Congrats!

But the shelf life is only 5 years 😜

People who would care and have the knowledge are probably not easy to keep, with the lowish wages or other potential issues. Here are some of my observations

Check out here The price has gone up a bit unfortunately, perhaps because of the covid? It is italian walnut so it matches the Lelit walnut knobs (with a bit of luck I guess) I added a metal eye so that I can hang it up Also, there is no guarantee that the Lelit walnut PF will colour match the other bits..

no, the wooden Lelit ones are too expensive for my taste - I've got a generic E61 naked PF bought here on the forum and the double spout one that came with the machine, and just changed the handles, you can get them for around 8-10 euro, you'll need the M12 screw ones and I use a 8mm Cafelat group head gasket

I think there was a mention at homebarista that the Profitec/ECM flow control kit will no longer be sold separately, but not sure if it is true

There's a video at the Lelit insider youtube channel on this topic

Yes you'll need to relube it, it is easy

The flow control with MaraX works fine. Correct, I've left the original pre-infusion spring in, it is quite a strong spring on itself. Most of the time I only use the valve to drop the pressure towards the end of the shot, however I was brewing some light roasted Kenya and needed longer PI. No problem, as the pressure is rising slowly and pauses at 2 bar, you can manipulate the valve to have 1 or 2 bar or whatever pressure pre-infusion. With the caveat of lower flow of course.

check out the Nuova Point Palermo collection edit: nevermind, others pointed it out

my Niche seems like it has broken-in already, suddenly I went from 11 and-half to 10 and-a-bit on the adjustment happened after around 6 kilos and I am able to make delicious straight espressos, also consistently

Some stuff I roasted, in a flat white

I use the 8mm one with a non OEM bottomless PF