I bought a standard version of this with the brass schrader/presta head 20 years ago and it's still working. 10 years ago I bought the SuperPista with a dedicated presta head. About a week ago I blew the leather washer and simply replaced it with a spare I had just for the occasion. It took about 10 minutes (mostly to find it) and it was good to go for another 10 years.



Edit: OP- Oh, and fietzbob is right. when you loosen the presta valve you also need to press down on the valve so you hear a little pop of air to break the air pressure seal. I've experienced this numerous times (occasionally it's because I forgot to loosen the valve).