Miche Supertype 440RC Shimano 11 speed, Red-White

_Supplied on Bike OEM

by Ben_W145 @ 2019-08-15 16:11:49


This is a fairly short term review as I have only had my Miche Supertype 440RC Wheels for about a month now, but I have now covered around 700 miles on them in a mixture of racing and training so I have now got a fairly rounded view as to how they perform. To sum this wheelset up in one word: mega!

This is probably the best wheelset I have had the privilege of using. The Supertype 440RCs have a pretty high level of comfort which takes away the harshness of British roads, but still somehow manages to remain exceedingly stiff and responsive. This quality was particularly demonstrated when I had to chance to use them racing in the E/1/2 Category at Goodwood and Mountbatten BC races in southern England. I had pretty high expectations going into these races as I normally run a Miche SWR Tubular wheelset whilst racing, but the Supertype clinchers really lived up to my particularly fussy demands; they held their speed well in breakaways travelling at around 50km/h, responded quickly when I needed to accelerate, and held their line superbly around the chicane at Goodwood which demonstrated a great cornering ability.

I am not a sprinter really so cannot fully comment about their response to powers upwards of 1400w, but I let the sprinter in my team have a quick go and he seemed impressed! The design I feel is subtle yet stylish - as someone who likes an understated design (due to using rather loud frames; this wheelset is paired up to my Bianchi Oltre XR4) I am a big fan! Personally I went for the white graphics which makes the Miche logo nice and prominent without detracting from the looks of the bike as a whole. Rigidity I feel would be more appropriate to comment on after a long term review, but so far they feel tough and have absolutely no signs of wear after some fairly harsh rides, so I am optimistic about the Supertype 440RCs being a long lasting wheelset.

I think there are two massive highlights of this wheel that I have not yet commented on; the fact they are tubeless compatible, and also the quality of the braking. I was exceedingly excited to get a chance to try tubeless on these wheels, and I managed to set them up with relative ease in combinated in Vittoria Corsa TLR Tyres (25mm). I don't doubt that this aided the performance of the handling and comfort that I previously touched upon, so I highly recommend giving this a go to get the most out of this wheelset.

The braking is just superb. I have used (whether owned or tested) a variety of carbon wheelsets over the years, and the Supertypes stop much faster than any carbon wheelset I have tried before; this list includes Zipp, Cero, Bontrager and other brands. I would even be inclined to suggest that they are as responsive as alloy wheelsets in the dry, but naturally have a small delay when wet. I combine my Supertype 440RC wheelset with the Miche grey compound brake pads which I find to be a great combo whether wet or dry - I have not yet tried the blue (dry) compound so cannot comment on this. As always, make sure you toe-in your brake pads otherwise they may be prone to squeaking, like all other carbon wheelsets. The only small negative about this wheelset is that they come with round spokes instead of bladed aero spokes. This does not affect the ride of the wheels of course, and I assume this was done to reduce the weight of the wheelset, but with deep section carbon rims I feel like aero spokes would have been a nice touch.

Overall I am a big fan of the Miche Supertype 440RCs, for both racing and training! I would highly recommend giving these a go to anyone, whether just riding to a cafe for a coffee, hitting your local Chaingang, or going racing; no matter what use, they will make your ride feel just that bit more special and will not fail to put a smile on your face!