Silca Leather Plunger Washer: Pista, Super

Bike World USA delivered the Leather Gasket in a timely manner; I was very happy about that. When I installed it in my Silca Super Presta Pump I was dissapointed that it didn't work as I expected; there was no compression within the pump so I thought I ordered the wrong size. Prior to ordering it from Amazon, I had called Silca directly and spoke to a very nice and professional lady by the name of Martha who helped me measure the diameter of the pump tube to assure I ordered the correct leather gasket. I called Silca after my installation of the new leather washer and again spoke to Martha. She understood my issue completely and emailed me a link to Silca's how to videos. As a result of following the instructions on the video my pump works as expected and it was due to the outstanding advice given to me by Silca directly; thank you Martha. This doesn't take anything away from Bike World USA as they sold me a quality product! Thank you.

My old leather had a crack I couldn't see until I removed it, hence the pressure drop while pumping issues. This new leather is perfect, my pump is at least 35+ years old, pumps like new again. My old leather lasted at least 20 years! BTW, I thought I was going to also replace the check valve in my pump, it turns out my pump / valve is NOT the same as the valve that comes up, I have a type of Schrader threaded in valve that is not out there in the Silca parts world. A short Schrader valve from a conventional tire valve stem sort of works in it's place, but the spring action on it is much stiffer. It will work though. Even though when you go to the Silca site, and they say "any pump can be rebuilt", they don't have the check valve for my pump, and on the outside my pump looks pretty much like any Silca pump from the 70's.

It fit my pump and works perfectly when you add grease like shown on You tube repair video. You have to order the right part based on your pump body material.

I bought a Silca bike pump in 1992. At the time, it was one of the more expensive options and I didn't have much money. I chose that pump because I was told it would last a lifetime; that even when the inevitable dry-rot happened it could be inexpensively repaired. Here it is 21 years later and I needed this part to get it in working order again. I have to say I was surprised to find that it really is still available and for a very low price. (You can still find parts for a Model T Ford, but you will pay a high price for them.) I installed it and it works great. Might as well be a brand new pump.

The leather plunger does not form a good seal, only creates 45 psi. A new one should get upto 140 psi.

the washer seemed to be inverted from the photo... the outside smooth leather was on the inside and the rough side was on the outside

A little expensive for what it is, but it fixed my pump. I probably could have just added more grease to the existing leather washer, but the pump is over 10 years old and now it pumps like new again. So it was definitely worth it and now I know how to maintain my pump. Several videos online on how to replace the washer but it's pretty simple

It is amazing how such a simple and inexpensive part can make a 20-year-old Silca Track pump (28mm tube) work as good (or perhaps even better) than the day it was purchased. Installation was very easy, and I took the time to disassemble the pump while I was at it to make sure all of the other parts were good, which they were. This repair should have me in good shape for another 20 years!