It seems strange to consider Miche as an outsider to the more established wheel brands of Zipp, Enve, Roval, even Hunt, but a quick survey of people around me suggests that I’m not wrong with that initial perception.
The brand was founded in 1919, some 88 years earlier than Enve, but when you think of buying new road wheels, Miche rarely gets much of a look-in these days.
In early 2022, the brand formed a working collaboration with Wilier, and since then, its started making more noise. That noise got even louder this year with the launch of the Kleos RD wheelset range in summer, a trio of ‘Race Division’ wheels at 36, 50 and 62mm deep.
I’ve spent some time riding the middle of those options, the 50mm, to see how – and if – they compare to their competitors. At that depth and a price of €2,349, they sit in a very crowded segment against the likes of Enve’s Foundation 45, Zipp’s 404 Firecrest, Hunt’s Limitless 48, the DT Swiss Arc 1100 DiCut 50mm, and more. Roval, Vision, Fulcrum, FFWD, Reserve, Bontrager, Cadex, Campagnolo, Hed, Reynolds, Parcours, Knight… name any wheel brand and it will have a ~50mm wheelset in its lineup.
Design and specifications
My first impression was that the Kleos RD 50 are pretty unexciting wheels. There’s no extreme low weight to get excited about, or any groundbreaking technologies to pin this review on. The only thing of any real novelty is the aero covers that were posted to me in a paper envelope two weeks after the wheels had originally arrived.
This aero… shroud… for want of a better term, pops onto the hub to cover the two-cross spoke flanges (driveside at the rear, non-driveside at the front). They certainly make that area cleaner, in aerodynamic-, aesthetic-, and literal terms in that it keeps the water, grit and grime from working its way into the otherwise exposed spoke flanges. They do, however, feel like an afterthought to resolve a poor design rather than something additional for the aero benefit. Frustratingly, one of my aero covers didn’t actually fit and snapped as I attempted to fit it, so I was forced to make do with the aerodynamic penalty for the duration of my testing. I’m being satirical, of course, but for those who care, Miche doesn’t quantify what this saving is.
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