I commute on the road, no offroad excursions, and I'll be using my cross bike now that it's built.
I may run a rear seatpost mounted rack I have but might stick with a backpack as it's been working fine for now.

The roads are not silky smooth and may have an occasional pothole but nothing so far that kept me from riding my roadie with 700x23 tires other than a rough ride in spots.

I have a few wheel options that I'm wondering are good or bad ideas.
Not to let this devolve into a spoke count war but I want my lightest wheels (Mavic Helium) for my roadie 700x23, my heavier duty set for 'cross offroad tires 700x35, and whatever will work as a daily commuter on 700x28 slicks.

I have these right now that are freed up for use as commuting: Shimano WH-R540


They are not as light as my Heliums, and certainly I don't see them offroad. Think they'd be ok for commuting on the fatter tires?

The other option is to sell them and get some Forte Titans which seem to be the closest to my price range.

I would check some of the reviews on those wheels but so much comes down to how well they were built. It's not just the materials. A spoke count war is pretty much guaranteed but I will say that roadies put thousands of training miles on wheels just like that. The Titans will probably have a similar spoke count but I don't think they use a paired pattern. That is also a topic that sparks a lot of debate.

Unless you're carrying a lot of stuff or are a bigger rider, I'd just use them. It's not something I'd buy with commuting in mind but since you've already got them...

I suppose that's close to where I'm at. I got 'em, might as well use 'em. So far they've been just fine on road rides, climbing, fast decents, etc. I don't carry big heavy loads either. Maybe the larger tires will insulate them from some impacts.

Just never had this type of wheel with the paired spokes so its a mental thing. I know they're not the perfect design and are discontinued in favor of other designs.

I killed a set of Xero XSR-3s in less than a year of commuting, and probably around 3k miles.

I have Keep it Rolling Protection Plan on that bike, so the shop had to replace the wheelset with the equivalent, which was the XSR-4s by then. Those lasted about two years, and around 7k miles, until I brought in my bike to have the rear wheel trued and discovered that I was tearing the nipples through the rim on the rear wheel.

They finally replaced the rear wheel with a normal wheel, an Alexrim R450, and I'm rather glad to have a traditional 32 spoke wheel under me now. I'll be even happier when the front wheel gets replaced too.

All of that said, I think that low spoke count wheels are fine if you aren't hauling that much. I regularly bring home 30 - 40 lbs of groceries in my messenger bag and I'm not a lightweight, around 160 lbs, so for me I won't use low spoke count wheels on my commuter again, but I hardly think they're suicide. Not the best idea in the world, but if you aren't going to be hauling that much, go for it.

ARGH!

Commuted with low-spoke count wheels. Still have nightmares. Two separate instances of broken spokes on the rear wheel, and since Shimano had discontinued that model - could NOT get a replacement spoke the second time.

Do not recommend. They just don't seem to hold up under "normal" commuting conditions. But if you never hit a pothole, or jump a curb you might be OK.

(FTR, I'm about 190 lbs, routinely carry 10-15 lb of stuff on the rear rack, and I ride a Crosscheck on urban roads)

I don't know about the Shimanos but I had a set of Rolfs that were pretty solid. They saw some commuting miles but mostly they were raced and trained on worse roads than we have in town. I tend to agree that if you have them, you might as well use them. And mounting the fattest tire you can fit is a good idea.

I also briefly had a set of Rolfs. Wish I hadn't sold them actually. They were on the heavy side for that type of wheel but had a reputation of being bomb proof.

+1 I'm with you. Run what you brung even if the are LSC wheels (or rather what came with the bike). I'm of the frame of mind that 32 spokes is the lower limit of long term durability. My '07 Sirrus came with 32's and I have around 2500 miles on them and the are still as true as the day I got the bike.

I don't really understand the benefits of low spoke count for commuting. It's not a race. I'd prefer to have dependable gear that essentially never breaks. Also, if you're riding with any load - a laptop, books, a tool kit, an extra set of clothes and/or rain gear - commuting does not equal training, and your risk of breakdown is noticeably higher. Also, with commuting, you have a time limit, so unexpected delays can be costly.

I ride 36 spoke wheels on both my bikes. They're nothing fancy, but they almost never break (my 13 year old MTB that I use in winter has had 3 broken spokes, none that prevented continued riding, my 1-year touring bike has had no broken spokes). The best thing with commuting wheels is a good, smooth running and well adjusted hub.

+1 on 36 spoke wheels. If I break a spoke on the way to work (it has happened), I can ride home again on 35 spokes. Try that on those fancy paired spoke wheels. (Actually, I think my current front wheel has "only" 32 spokes, but that's the minimum as far as I'm concerned).

Ditto. 32 is the absolute minimum for me for any sort of riding short of racing. Just looking at low spoke count wheels is an eyesore and makes me cringe at how easily I'd be able to break them at my weight. For daily use, I would prefer a durable and reliable wheel over a light and aerodynamic one. As neil said, commuting isn't a race.

There are people who commute in large SUVs - very poorly suited to the job of commuting, but they work. Others commute in sports cars, again, not well suited to the task, but it works. I commute on a bicycle. It is a bicycle that was built from the ground up to be a commuter. My first priority was for reliability and secondly a good tradeoff between speed and comfort. My front wheel has Schwalbe Marathon Plus rubber (700C25) , over a Mavic A-719 rim, and a Schmidt dyno-hub. The rear wheel has the same tire and rim, with a Phil Wood, 36 spoke hub.

I have commuted over 20,000 miles since my last flat or other wheel issue.

Low spoke count wheels may be a bit faster, but I am never late to work because I had to repair the bike.

I think we can all agree that high-spoke count wheels are optimal for touring but that misses the point of the OP's question. He has a super light set he wants to keep on his roadie. He has a beefy set he wants to keep on his CX. And he has a set of wheels that will go unused but for the opportunity to commute on them. I still think that although they are not optimal commuting wheels, he ought to go ahead and use them rather than let them sit and gather dust.

Ride 'em like ou stole 'em! When they break, get some Velocity Dyads with Chris King or Phil Woods hubs, with DT Swiss spokes, and never worry about wheels on your commute again. Cheeper than the big-buck Shimmy and Campy wheelsets, too. But, still, ride what you got, fix what you break, enjoy breaking them as much as you enjoy fixing them, and a good story involving catastrophic spoke failure is worth a beer at the best bars.

This past Monday I was working late and decided to take a break and go on a little training ride since it was so nice out. Just after I turned around to go back to the office a spoke broke on my front wheel. This wheel has 16 spokes. There was a definite wobble but even with the limited tire clearance on this bike I was able to open the brakes enough to allow me to ride back without anything rubbing.

And to another poster's point, yes you can use your commute to suppliment your training.

I agree that if you were buying a wheel specifically for commuting, get one with more spokes. But the OP has a set of wheels already. He might as well use them. If he's really concerned about breaking a spoke he can get an emergency replacement spoke kit for about $10. It's compact and works for any size spoke. It's also a lot cheaper than a new set of wheels.

And the spoke count war is on...

I've put 2,400 miles on my Bianchi Volpe since June of '08. The 32 spoke wheel was fine for the first six months. Then a spoke broke. Then another one broke. Then I had my LBS put heavier gauge spokes on the bike. Last night I found one so loose it was flopping. I ride all paved roads and there is only one speed hump, and no serious potholes. But I weight 190 LBS, and I load a good 25 LBS of gear in my panniers, including my laptop.

On the other hand, on the weekend I ride my road bike with only 24 spokes and I've never had a problem with it. But that bike is way lighter and carries no load. In my experience the weight and load you place on the wheel, and how hard you ride it, makes a huge difference in how well it holds up. I am seriously considering going to a 36 spoke rear wheel for my commuter bike.

There's a lot of variables. When you're riding a road bike with an aggressive geometry your weight is more evenly spread between both wheels. On a bike where you're riding more upright, there's more weight on the rear wheel. Also there's a difference when you're carrying your stuff in a messenger bag on a road bike vs. rear panniers on a more upright bike. Deep profile rims are tougher too than the traditional box style rim requiring fewer spokes.

Aside from spoke count, a lot depends on how well the wheels were built. You may be have just gotten a bad one on your Volpe. My brother was breaking spokes left and right his two year old bike. It was a 32 spoke wheel. Replaced the wheel with essentially the same model and his problems went away.

yikes. I hope you weight 100 lbs!