Touring - How to get a good wheel?

I have a 36h Mavic T519 rear wheel. Last year, I lost a pair of spokes on tour (5 days in). This year, I lost 3 more spokes, again, about 5 days in. My local shop inspected the wheel twice before I left this year and thought it was okay. Apparently it wasn't. So where does one go if the local guy is not a touring expert and no one you know nearby is either? I'm carrying 40lbs of gear (racks and panniers included) and I'm a big guy at 6'4" 220lbs. I tried to make a more concerted effort to spin this year, but I must have mashed a couple hills in the Kananaskis area or something else is wrong.

it could be the spokes not the wheel.. either way you can have the wheel rebuilt or have one built brand new for you. if you do that you can specify the guage of the spoke and the number of spokes... (i think you can get 40's maybe 42's) and get a new hub since that could also be a problem with tearing u your spokes

You could consider making a wheel with a higher spoke count (40 or 48). Double butted spokes are supposed to be stronger. Also, consider putting heavier objects in your front panniers. The general consensus seems to be that 60% of your pannier weight should be up front.

You could consider having a wheel made by a specialist, like Peter White. He guarantees his work. I think Sheldon Brown's shop, Harris Cyclery, also has a guarantee. Or you could try what I'm trying - buying the stuff and building your own wheels, using Sheldon Brown's site as a reference. Of course, that meant I had to (according to me) buy a truing stand, dishing gauge, and tensionometer, as well as all the parts. And I'm going to have the wheels I build checked by my local expert. Not the most economical way to get a set of wheels, but I wanted to learn how.

You could consider having a wheel made by a specialist, like Peter White. He guarantees his work.

Wow. You beat me to the punch on Peter White. I'm a satisfied Peter White customer. (200 lbs)

I wanted a great wheel, so I built my own using only Sheldon Brown's website. You can too.

Building your own wheel takes time, patience, and a little understanding of how a spoked wheel works, but it's very satisfying and you can get very good results. Double butted spokes have a little more "give" to them, they stretch and spring back instead of snapping. Higher spoke counts can help, so can fatter tires to cushion the road shock. So can losing weight, carrying less baggage, and distributing the baggage front and rear. Losing weight seems to be the hardest one for me to do, though.

I've built a bunch of wheels using Jobst Brandt's book "The Bicycle Wheel" (http://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Wheel-3rd-Jobst-Brandt/dp/0960723668/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4578900-2277744?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185219217&sr=8-1), and been very pleased with the results. I've got the first edition from around 1985, maybe I'll pick up a more current edition one of these days.

220+40 is not heavy for what you are describing. I don't personally think spinning makes much difference in wheel brealage. The three biggies are problably the quality and fit of the materials, some spokes will always break with certain hubs, etc...; The quality of build. The main issue beyond the obvious points are that the wheels needs to have been built to the deformation point (this only needs to be done for every new set of parts, once you have the stress level, it can be noted with a spoke guage and subsequent similar sets can be built to those numbers), then the wheel needs to be "stress relieved" process of seating the spokes by grabbing parallel pairs in one's grip and teaking them until they deform into place. Check online sources or the Bicycle Wheel. Wheels built that way are uber strong; You need to ride with some respect for your wheels (sounds like you do this). A 220 guy on a loaded touring bike can't ride it like a bike courier on crack, just minimize all impacts, smooth is fast in touring.

Also check that it is cross three laced.