I was using the pump (TOPEAK Road Morph G Pump With Gauge) today, for the first time. There are almost no instructions how to use it.

After setting the pump head for Shrader valve, I assumed that I have to lift the lever before attaching the pump head to the lever and then to press it down to lock it to the valve (so the lever and the valve will be at 90 degree angle). It didn't work, I couldn't lock the pump head to the valve.

So I pushed the lever back, attached the pump head to the valve and lifted the lever up. This time it seemed to me that the pump head locked to the valve.

At this point of time the pump's pressure gauge was pointing to zero. As I started pumping, the gauge jumped up and pointed apparently to the current pressure of the tube. I continued pumping and it got harder and harder and barelly could get to 75 PSI. (I've verified the pressure with my old floor pump with pressure gauge.)

Now, I'm reading reviews of the pump on Amazon. I'm not sure if he's right, but this is what he writes (the second review, "Some extra documentation for newbies, December 26, 2007"):

"loosen the cap on the pump head part-way, let it sit on the tire's metal valve. Press down a little bit so that the valve goes into the tube a little bit. Then, counter-intuitively, screw the cap back up into the head assembly.

Now push the black lever at the back of the pump head so that it snaps into place at a 90 degree angle to the plane of valve.

This procedure gets you a tight join/seal between the tire valve and pump head. You are ready to pump!

To disengage, I found it easier to first unscrew the cap on the pump head till it came off the pump head and dropped onto the valve. This way there was less leakage when I unlocked the lever, and pulled off the rubber piece from the tire valve."


First, is that the right procedure?

Second, do I lock the pump head to the valve by pushing the lever down (so it it's at 90 degree angle to the valve plane), as he describes it?

Thanks in advance!