ultimate bottom bracket ambiguity: Mavic Ellipse + Suntour Superbe Cranks...
 

Ok, seriously, I've been a mechanic for years and I thought this would be a simple matter of looking up the measurements of each component and making the necessary compensation in spindle length, but what the hell am I gonna do here...? What the hell interface am I even supposed to use for superbes? JIS? Campy? Is the Ellipse Chainline boogeyman even real? It seems like every time a question like this is asked, everyone just starts shouting contradictory bull. please help.

my line of thinking has been to treat my SSP's like i would a set of Sugino 75's, except mount them on a sexier bottom bracket.

I think suntour used to use ISO (campy) tapers, especially in track cranks. FWIW, Sheldon says the superbe road crankset is ISO. Unfortunately the catalog just says "superbe" as the taper, which is probably neither ISO or JIS.

If they are used it might not even make a difference, since they could be deformed to whatever the previous owner used.

Phil Wood adjustable BB should be the best bet... and measure that chainline on the Ellipses, I've heard it's 44-46mm on the rear depending on who's asked. And Mavic has no contact email on their website.. as for the spindle type/length, email Phil Wood?

My understanding is Superbe is ISO

For what it's worth when I had Superbe Pro cranks I had them mounted on both a hatta and a sugino 75 bottom bracket without any issue. Normally I don't advocate mixing tapers but this was before I found out sugino 75 was ISO. I have no idea if the hatta is jis but it would make sense that it is giving that from what I hear most keirin racers are using dura ace square taper cranks (which from what I understand are jis, please correct me if I am wrong) and most keirin frames seem to be coming into the u.s. with hatt bbs

While I have never owned the ellipse wheels three friends have... one used a TA crank, on is still using a FSA carbon pro, and one had his set up with dura ace. Nobody had a problem with any set up.

The chainline issue is overrated in this case.