A customer left me with a Mavic Ellipse practice track wheel.
Let me start with the front wheel.
The customer says it's barely been used.
These days, competition track bikes often have a front thru-axle,
but with the standard 100mm width 9mm diameter shaft,
you can use a road-style quick-release front wheel.
Though I've heard from the scary ex-track cyclist regulars at the velodrome
who get upset if you use a front wheel without a nutted axle.
Hardly any runout, but there was some centering offset.
↑About this much
Fixed.
The dust cap-style component has six holes for bearing adjustment—four of which are gripped by the specialized tool—and this side is considered the left.
On this particular wheel, the front wheel has radial spoking while the rear has a threadless double-threaded hub with JIS spoking pattern,
so technically there's no performance difference even if you flip both wheels around.
Now for the rear wheel.
↑This is the post-work image.
The temporary centering was spot-on, so I didn't take photos before, but
there was considerable runout, and though the truing history is unclear,
there was some radial runout that appeared to develop over time.
It wasn't quite as dramatic as the name suggests—an ellipse, after all—but it was there.
As I fiddled around removing the runout in both directions, once I got those taken care of
centering offset appeared. I didn't photograph that either, though I probably should have.
Then I re-centered it and removed the minor lateral runout, resulting in the state shown above.
↑No particular significance to the enlarged area, just so you know.
The Ellipse is a track-only wheel with WO rim spec,
and compared to modern wide tires and such, at least,
the tire pressure needed is considerably higher.
Yet despite that, even though the width is appropriate, certain manufacturers' rim tape
or whatever it's called that dents easily is what was installed.
I considered replacing it, but since no dents have appeared yet,
I'm leaving it as is for now.
↑Considered right side
↑Considered left side
On both sides, the right-hand threads where the sprocket is installed show no notable wear marks,
but the left-hand threads for the lockring
have the anodizing peeled off on the considered left side only.
The customer mentioned they weren't sure which side, but
they had a suspicion the threads might be damaged on one side, so they wanted me to check.
↑Image is of the considered right side, but
when I tried fitting the sprocket on both sides,
the initial engagement was light enough to turn by hand.
No problems.
↑Image is of the considered left side, but
when I tried fitting the lockring on both sides,
the rotation on the considered right side, which looks unused, was slightly stiff.
However, the threads are fine.
As long as you apply grease when installing and
make sure the initial engagement catches smoothly, there shouldn't be any issues.
On a different note,
↑Adjustable carbon spokes Cosmic Carbon SLR（→here）
↑Steel spokes, essentially the same as the so-called Cosmic Carbon SL but
from when the model name was simply Cosmic SL（→here）
The notch at the upper left of the first C in COSMIC on these models
is a position guide to align with one of the three square Mavic stickers.
Therefore, you must not peel it off when replacing stickers.
Carbon Cosmics from this era came in custom colors like red and yellow in addition to white for repairs.
By the way, the blue in the image above is custom-made by the customer.
This Ellipse also has the upper left of the model name on the rim cutting into
the Mavic square sticker, featuring a similar design to the Cosmic mentioned earlier.
But looking closer,
the square portion and the model name are integrated as one piece.
What's that all about? So the design just follows the Cosmic style but
has no actual meaning to the shape?
However, though I'm not sure if it's currently available,
there are spare stickers sold for the Ellipse（or there were）.
There are no color variations—just the standard version is
supplied as a repair spare.
But actually, this applies to Mavic's popular models in general, and there are
aftermarket custom stickers available from several manufacturers.
If you're interested, try searching for "MAVIC ellipse custom stickers" or similar.
Let me start with the front wheel.
The customer says it's barely been used.
These days, competition track bikes often have a front thru-axle,
but with the standard 100mm width 9mm diameter shaft,
you can use a road-style quick-release front wheel.
who get upset if you use a front wheel without a nutted axle.
Hardly any runout, but there was some centering offset.
↑About this much
Fixed.
The dust cap-style component has six holes for bearing adjustment—four of which are gripped by the specialized tool—and this side is considered the left.
On this particular wheel, the front wheel has radial spoking while the rear has a threadless double-threaded hub with JIS spoking pattern,
so technically there's no performance difference even if you flip both wheels around.
Now for the rear wheel.
↑This is the post-work image.
The temporary centering was spot-on, so I didn't take photos before, but
there was considerable runout, and though the truing history is unclear,
there was some radial runout that appeared to develop over time.
It wasn't quite as dramatic as the name suggests—an ellipse, after all—but it was there.
As I fiddled around removing the runout in both directions, once I got those taken care of
centering offset appeared. I didn't photograph that either, though I probably should have.
Then I re-centered it and removed the minor lateral runout, resulting in the state shown above.
↑No particular significance to the enlarged area, just so you know.
The Ellipse is a track-only wheel with WO rim spec,
and compared to modern wide tires and such, at least,
the tire pressure needed is considerably higher.
Yet despite that, even though the width is appropriate, certain manufacturers' rim tape
I considered replacing it, but since no dents have appeared yet,
I'm leaving it as is for now.
↑Considered right side
↑Considered left side
On both sides, the right-hand threads where the sprocket is installed show no notable wear marks,
but the left-hand threads for the lockring
have the anodizing peeled off on the considered left side only.
The customer mentioned they weren't sure which side, but
they had a suspicion the threads might be damaged on one side, so they wanted me to check.
↑Image is of the considered right side, but
when I tried fitting the sprocket on both sides,
the initial engagement was light enough to turn by hand.
No problems.
↑Image is of the considered left side, but
when I tried fitting the lockring on both sides,
the rotation on the considered right side, which looks unused, was slightly stiff.
However, the threads are fine.
As long as you apply grease when installing and
make sure the initial engagement catches smoothly, there shouldn't be any issues.
On a different note,
↑Adjustable carbon spokes Cosmic Carbon SLR（→here）
↑Steel spokes, essentially the same as the so-called Cosmic Carbon SL but
from when the model name was simply Cosmic SL（→here）
The notch at the upper left of the first C in COSMIC on these models
is a position guide to align with one of the three square Mavic stickers.
Therefore, you must not peel it off when replacing stickers.
Carbon Cosmics from this era came in custom colors like red and yellow in addition to white for repairs.
By the way, the blue in the image above is custom-made by the customer.
This Ellipse also has the upper left of the model name on the rim cutting into
the Mavic square sticker, featuring a similar design to the Cosmic mentioned earlier.
But looking closer,
the square portion and the model name are integrated as one piece.
What's that all about? So the design just follows the Cosmic style but
has no actual meaning to the shape?
However, though I'm not sure if it's currently available,
there are spare stickers sold for the Ellipse（or there were）.
There are no color variations—just the standard version is
supplied as a repair spare.
But actually, this applies to Mavic's popular models in general, and there are
aftermarket custom stickers available from several manufacturers.
If you're interested, try searching for "MAVIC ellipse custom stickers" or similar.