well I was popping spokes weekly from general riding...I was just too rough on the wheel, the only weak point of the bike has been the rear wheel...and well yeah...I'm 450# and I"m not kind to my bike. After the accident my foot was slammed into my spokes again...breaking them up and bending quite a few. Fortunately the bikeshop had just finished building that wheel...I'm also having a set of Velocity Deep V 36H to XT hubs built for me.