mavic ellipse...finally i see them on a bike. they look cool and are not too pricey

https://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005/feb/martyn.htm

I really like the fork on that bike... I was thinking it looked strange for a spicer track frame, but then I read the blurb and found out its a conversion done by Gene himself. Looks like a nice ride.... I wish I had radially laced aero spokes....

The Ellipses do look nice, but don't be fooled. The shop where I work got one of the new Pista Concepts which now come with that wheelset. The cog spacing on the rear wheel needs a chainline of about 46.5mm. Not too much problem if you're using the outer ring on some road cranks, but most track crankset/BB combos put the chainline around 42. So Mavic has made this slick, new, track specific wheelset that can't accomodate a track chainline.

I called Mavic, 'cause with their reputation, I figured they had a really good reason which somehow escaped me. Nope. They couldn't give me any reason for this discrepancy.

...and isn't Ellipse a really bad name for something that's supposed to be perfectly round?

This may be referring to the other dimension of the rim, like if you looked at a cross-section.

But nonetheless, WTF, especially for that chainline. How long before they realize that that doesn't make any sense?

or something more along the lines of ellipse->oval->track?

Mavic also decided that the lockring needed would only fit these hubs. To expand on that WTF even more, they don't include it with the wheels - you must purchace it separate. We ordered 4 sets of the wheels for our shop and found that out after they came in. Of course the lockrings weren't available yet........tell me again how the french lost the bicycle market?

I've had some really bad luck in the past with prebuilt mavic mountain bike wheels. Basically the hubs were garbage, and since everything was proprietary, once they went the entire wheel is trash.

These sound sketchy too from the above comments. I love their rims, but that's about it.

maybe i'm still half asleep, but how is that spicer staying upright?

You're still half asleep (at 11:30??). There's a stick involved. On the last photo you can see it up close propping up the drive side crank.

probably really excited about its wheelset!





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or maybe the little stick under the pedal

yep, got it now. my brain doesn't usually get turning till around noon (i get into work at 10:30.)

wait, they actually won something?

The label on the tire isn't even lined up with the valve - how can I take those wheels seriously? I know its not an actual part of the wheelset, but its like misbuttoning a dress shirt when you have an interview.