In May 2026, Miche unveiled two new carbon wheelsets sharing a common philosophy: to offer Italian manufacturing, proven components, and a particularly aggressive price point.
On one side, the Asfalto, designed for road use. On the other, the Sterrato, conceived for all-road, gravel, and bikepacking practices.
On paper, the recipe might seem simple. A pair of carbon wheels manufactured in Italy, offered at a price that challenges much of the competition.
But looking closer at the specifications, it quickly becomes clear that Miche didn't aim to produce the lightest or most spectacular wheels on the market.
Quite the opposite. With the Sterrato 45, the Italian brand made several technical choices that go against the current trend.
Choices that prioritize reliability, safety, ease of maintenance, and durability over the obsessive pursuit of grams.
And to be honest, that's precisely what we liked.
Because when we talk about gravel, bike travel, or long days spent far from home, the needs of a real user are often very different from those of a racer looking to gain a few seconds at a finish line.
So, it's about the Sterrato 45 that I'll be talking to you about here.
What immediately appealed to us about the Sterrato 45 was that they fully embraced their positioning.
Today, much of the cycling industry seems engaged in a permanent race for grams.
Every new generation of wheels must be lighter than the last.
The thing is, a gravel, bikepacking, or all-road user doesn't necessarily have the same priorities as a pro rider.
When you go for a ride several hours from home, when you're tackling rough trails, when your bike is loaded with bags, or when you find yourself in the middle of nowhere with a mechanical problem, the criteria change quickly.
And that's precisely where the Sterrato 45 makes perfect sense.
One of the first details that catches the eye is the presence of hooked rims.
For several years, many brands have been migrating to hookless profiles to simplify manufacturing and save a few grams. The aero gains are marginal.
Miche has chosen another path for the Sterrato.
The Sterrato 45 retains hooked rims, offering extremely broad compatibility with tires on the market and also allowing the use of narrower sections with an excellent level of safety.
For an all-road bike capable of switching between fast tires under 35mm and more generous sections for gravel or touring, this is a real advantage.
We particularly appreciate the peace of mind that a hooked rim brings.
The same logic applies to the hubs.
Miche uses classic J-Bend spokes here rather than straight pull spokes.
On a spec sheet, this is probably not what will excite gram-chasers.
However, it's exactly the kind of detail that makes a difference when a bike is used for real.
A J-Bend spoke can be found everywhere. Any serious bike shop can usually help you out quickly.
Conversely, some wheels using proprietary spokes or more exotic setups can quickly become a headache when a spoke needs to be replaced.
This philosophy particularly resonates with us.
When we developed the SWR Evo 50 with Miche, we specifically requested hubs compatible with J-Bend spokes.
We could have saved a few grams with a straight pull setup, but here too we preferred to prioritize repairability.
Because a wheel that has to travel thousands of kilometers must, above all, be easy to maintain, anywhere.
So yes, the Sterrato 45 weighs 1720 grams.
That's probably the number some people will look at first.
And indeed, with a claimed 1720 grams per pair, the Sterrato 45 doesn't aim to break records.
But as often, the question is not how much a wheel weighs.
The real question is why it weighs that much.
The few hundred extra grams compared to some more exclusive wheels allow for a particularly robust structure, hooked rims, spokes designed to last, and above all, a declared maximum load of 130 kg.
In other words, these wheels were designed to accommodate riders of all sizes, bikes loaded for travel, and terrains sometimes far removed from the perfectly maintained trails seen on Instagram.
In our opinion, that's precisely what makes the Sterrato 45 interesting.
They don't seek to impress a scale or win a weight comparison.
They aim to be reliable, robust, easy to live with, and easy to repair.
But you might then ask yourself: "If the Sterrato 45 weighs similar to some high-end aluminum wheels (like the Miche Graff), why not just choose a cheaper pair of aluminum wheels?"
The answer mainly lies in the very nature of carbon.
At an equivalent weight, a carbon rim allows for shapes that are impossible to reasonably reproduce in aluminum.
This is particularly the case for the 45mm profile of the Sterrato 45.
On an aluminum wheel, achieving such a rim height would generally result in a very significant weight penalty.
This is also why most aluminum gravel or all-road wheels are limited to profiles between 20 and 30mm.
With the Sterrato 45, Miche manages to maintain a consistent weight while offering a 45mm profile.
In addition to the more dynamic behavior typical of a good carbon wheel, this rim height also provides a real aerodynamic advantage as soon as speed increases.
From about 20 to 25 km/h, the gain becomes measurable and contributes to making the bike more efficient on long rolling sections.
In other words, even if the Sterrato 45 doesn't play the ultralight card, they still provide access to certain advantages of carbon that an aluminum wheel simply cannot offer.
In conclusion
In our opinion, the Sterrato 45 perfectly embody what a modern gravel wheelset should be: reliable, robust, easy to maintain, and built to last.
Rather than engaging in a race for grams that is sometimes disconnected from the real needs of cyclists, Miche has chosen to prioritize safety, repairability, and versatility.
These choices may not always look spectacular on a spec sheet, but they make perfect sense when you spend your days riding, traveling, or exploring far from home.
The Sterrato 45 are probably not the lightest wheels in the Miche range, but they are undoubtedly the most honest.