Road Wheels & Road Wheel Recommendations?

Any reason?

What's the forum recommended beater fixed/ss wheelset?

gp5000 25c would become 29mm wide and gp5000 28c about 31mm, so a great match with the rim shape:

28c Vittoria Corsa G+ :

I have not tried them myself (yet), but people seem to be happy with them.

At what point the inner width is too much? 23mm is what my gravel bike gets, I'd be afraid of damaging the sidewalls on a 25c tire. Maybe there's finally a reason for tubeless road.

At what point the inner width is too much?

You're in experimental, but probably not yet dangerous, territory when the inner rim width exceeds about 75% of the true (not nominal) tyre width. You can get away with more at the back than at the front, because the front leans more.

So I'm risking it riding some 23s I had spare on my 19mm inner training wheelset. I'll have a good look next time I use these

So I'm risking it riding some 23s I had spare on my 19mm inner training wheelset

Only if they're abnormally narrow 23s. Since they were probably designed for 15mm rims, I'd expect 23s to come up to at least 25mm on 19mm rims. 19/25=0.76, which is barely into experimental territory.
I've got 23C Contis on 19mm Rigida Sputniks on the RollerFort, they are well over 26mm wide on those rims.

Pillar or sapim spokes? LB is giving the choice but although the former is lighter by a few grams I have no idea what Is best.

Lightbicycle are doing $1 shipping this month, FYI. I got an automatic email because I had stuff in my cart (so it may just be a regular offer).

In theory, which of these rims is going to be faster with 25/28 tyres and easier to handle on crosswinds?

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I have the first of those two, I think. Ride them with 25mm gp4000s. They can get lively on windy days but I don't think there's a magic bullet for that problem. Make a nice hum while you ride along, you feel fast even if you're crawling!

Depends how windy it gets where you live I guess. I ended up selling some disc wheels I had that were 55mm deep as it felt like half the time I rode I was fighting them for part of the ride. That said, it's been so windy here the last couple of weekends that I've had the same problem on 32mm rims so... nothing useful to add I guess :)

Even for a heavy guy the difference riding TABR with deep front wheel compared to a shallow front wheel the year after was noticeable and I'd never go back to deep wheels for long stuff. On a short ride, it's fine, you hang on, whatever. On a long ride when every little annoyance is multiplied by 100x then fighting the bike so that it doesn't hit rumble strips or blow you into the lane is fucking hard work and caused many, many stress molecules to build up and exit my body in the form of very angry naughty words.

Thanks. I ride a 60 rear and 50 front (u shaped) without too much difficulty, I'm just curious which of these shapes is going to be best for all round riding. I.e. wider tyre profile but narrower rim edge Vs u shaped.

Why not both? U-rim with a 25mm tyre on the front for the low side wind force, V-rim with a 28mm tyre on the back for the low rolling resistance where the load is higher.

But that won't look as cool... Are u shaped genuinely better in cross winds or is that just marketing? If I had to go for one for both, what would you recommend? Mostly flat riding, occasional hills.

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Are u shaped genuinely better in cross winds or is that just marketing? If I had to go for one for both, what would you recommend?

The U-shape hype was in comparison with very sharp-edged and slab-sided V-shaped rims. The 30mm LB rims are more semi-elliptical than V-shaped. The theory stands, but the 30mm LB probably performs closer to U than V

If I were making the call for myself, and using the same tyre front and rear, I'd come down hard on a tyre choice between 25 and 28 and then match to the rim as described. If you insist on swapping from one tyre to another with just one rim, you'll probably be on the second-choice rim for one of the tyres, but not by much.

It's a vanity of small differences whichever way you jump 🙂

Pillar or sapim spokes?

Personally I'd go for Sapim over Pillar. I believe that they use slightly different steels for their spokes (18/10 for Pillar, 18/8 for Sapim). I've used Sapim spokes a lot and never had any issues with them, whereas friends with Pillar spokes (mostly in Hunt wheels) have suffered from broken spokes. Of course there are a lot of other factors which might have led to this, but I'll be sticking to Sapim for my builds (except for those with DT Swiss Alpine IIIs).

Hmm... had several sets of Hunt wheels without issue (well, without issues with the spokes at least) so maybe I'll be alright. thanks, I'll have a think

I've got the 30/56 rims on my ultracycling bike, and never had any issues with crosswinds. I've not ridden the LB25/55 rims, but the shape is very similar to the Zipp 404 Firecrest shape, and I have found those a bit twitchy in high winds. I've been really impressed by the LB 30/56 rims so I'd probably go for them. I wouldn't use them with 25s though - I think they'd be too wide for 25s. I use them with 30mm G-One Speeds, and even with 30mm tyres the tyre is only just wider than the rim. Should be OK with 28s though.

Even for a heavy guy the difference riding TABR with deep front wheel compared to a shallow front wheel the year after was noticeable and I'd never go back to deep wheels for long stuff.

Pusseh. I did TPBR on LB30/56 rims F&R. Nay worries.

Admittedly, it never really got that windy during that race.

they use slightly different steels for their spokes (18/10 for Pillar, 18/8 for Sapim)...friends with Pillar spokes (mostly in Hunt wheels) have suffered from broken spokes.

I expect differences in process make more difference than the difference in alloy composition.
Given how popular Pillar spokes are with Chinese wheel shops, I'd expect a lot of reports of failure if they were actually particularly weak.

Three Peaks? Not exactly prairie land is it?

LB30? 30mm? That IS a shallow wheel in my world.
Or is that 30 wide, 56 deep? Anyway, 30mm deep is much nicer for ultra stuff for a number of reasons.

Hmm... had several sets of Hunt wheels without issue (well, without issues with the spokes at least) so maybe I'll be alright. thanks, I'll have a think

The differences between them will be marginal and are likely to depend on nothing more than personal preference. I've always viewed, rightly or wrongly, Pillar spokes as a budget option and Sapim as a premium option, hence why I'd go for Sapim if the price is the same.

40 dollars difference.