diff --git a/scripts/common_startup.sh b/scripts/common_startup.sh
index 2bd90808324..c8e7f2c4bbb 100755
--- a/scripts/common_startup.sh
+++ b/scripts/common_startup.sh
@@ -139,8 +139,28 @@ fi
 : ${GALAXY_WHEELS_INDEX_URL:="https://wheels.galaxyproject.org/simple"}
 if [ $REPLACE_PIP -eq 1 ]; then
     pip_version=`pip --version | awk '{print $2}'`
-    pre=`python -c "from pkg_resources import parse_version; from sys import stdout; stdout.write('--pre') if parse_version('$pip_version') >= parse_version('1.4') else stdout.write('')"`
-    pip install $pre --no-index --find-links ${GALAXY_WHEELS_INDEX_URL}/pip --upgrade "pip==${GXPIP_VERSION}"
+    method=`python - << EOF
+from pkg_resources import parse_version
+from sys import stdout
+if parse_version('$pip_version') >= parse_version('1.6'):
+    stdout.write('req')
+elif parse_version('$pip_version') >= parse_version('1.5'):
+    stdout.write('wheel')
+else:
+    stdout.write('sdist')
+EOF`
+    case $method in
+        req)
+            pip install --no-index --find-links ${GALAXY_WHEELS_INDEX_URL}/pip --upgrade "pip==${GXPIP_VERSION}"
+            ;;
+        wheel)
+            pip install --upgrade "https://wheels.galaxyproject.org/packages/pip-${GXPIP_VERSION}-py2.py3-none-any.whl"
+            ;;
+        sdist)
+            pip install --upgrade "https://wheels.galaxyproject.org/packages/pip-${GXPIP_VERSION}.tar.gz"
+            ;;
+    esac
+
     # binary-compatibility.cfg may need to be created (e.g. on CentOS)
     [ -n "$VIRTUAL_ENV" -a ! -f ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/binary-compatibility.cfg ] && python ./scripts/binary_compatibility.py -o ${VIRTUAL_ENV}/binary-compatibility.cfg
 fi