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Miche's K1 wheelset is a super-light carbon fibre setup that'll satisfy the need for speed for even the most weight-conscious cross-country race head. They offer an impressively low weight for the money and decent 27mm width. The only downside is that the freehub has a relatively lazy engagement speed.

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The K1s are Miche's top-end cross-country racing and riding wheels. With a weight of 1,411g for the pair - that's including tubeless tape and valves - they're competitive with the very best the likes of DT Swiss, Roval, ENVE and Stans have to offer in this field.

Miche hasn't cheated on the weight front by making the rims narrow either; they sport a 27mm internal width that gives a decent profile to fat (for cross-country) 2.35" tyres. The rim itself is made from unidirectional carbon fibre with an asymmetrical profile and hookless bead. Mine came pre-taped and they inflated and held pressure on the first go.

Both front and rear get 24 spokes apiece and they're laced in a two-cross pattern to Miche's own hubs via straight-pull spokes. The hubs have aluminium bodies bolstered with carbon fibre reinforcement and use Shimano's Centrelock disc mounting system. They spin on SKF bearings and you can adjust the tension on the rear axle to take up slop.

Sizing is limited to Boost spacing and 29" only, which is unsurprising for top-end race wheels nowadays. You're not limited when it comes to freehub options though, with SRAM's XD and Shimano's old HG and new Microspline driver bodies being available. The bodies are made from a mix of aluminium and titanium to keep weight down as well as adding a little extra cachet.

The only real disappointment here is the rather lazy 12° freehub engagement angle. It's not an issue with kind of constant output riding you often have in cross-country, but it's noticeably slower to respond in stop-start pedalling than speedier bodies.

Ride wise, the wheels impress. As with most really lightweight wheels shod in fast-rolling tyres, they feel like they have almost no inertia and acceleration and turn response feels instant. They've dealt with a fair amount of beating in trail riding use as well; there's surprisingly little twang from them even when getting slapped into berms in a manner most unbecoming to a cross-country wheel.

Miche has made an impressively lightweight cross-country race wheelset with the K1s. It'd be foolish to treat them like trail wheels all the time, but it's good to know they can deal with cross-country rough and tumble and they're very much competitive when it comes to performance per pound. While rivals like Roval, DT and others might be better known, if you want speedy riding top-end XC wheels, it'd be a mistake to overlook Miche.

• www.miche.it

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