Definitely have had less than stellar experiences with VO stuff. Other products have been fine. their stems are great, and the seatposts are great. the fenders are good.... basically stuff w/o moving parts.
typical taiwanese parts, made silver and olde-fashioned looking. I think the brand is more about looks than quality, personally.
Id be more worried about the hub internals crapping out than breaking a spoke. And if I were on a tour so long that I was planning to rebuild my freehub along the way, I would def. pony up for a Phil wood touring hub.
It is also field serviceable using two 5mm wrenches.