Bicycle Mechanics - HD wheel for friend

Her 32 spoke Tiagra 9sp hub Alex rim rear wheel keeps breakin spokes and in the Washington DC area a spoke repair is real money.
I have a new Sun CR18 rim I could lace up for her and would use Alpine III spokes on the drive side and maybe 14/15 for the other, 3 cross.
If it were mine Idd go the Alpine route but use oval spokes in a radial pattern for the off side using a 36 hole rim and hub.
Don't know why the shop won't stand behind this wheel as the bike is still less than a year old. But she is a woman of substance.
TIA

What is the warranty policy on the wheel? I would contact the bicycle manufacturer for help. They might put some pressure on the shop to repair or replace the rim, which if it had been assembled correctly, would't be subject to spoke breakage this early in its lifespan.

Ok, I know you're never supposed to ask a lady this, but just how much of a lady of substance is she. I have a couple of riders down here that are 6' to 6' 6 " and about 225 lbs that are hard riders and never have this problem. Maybe get the wheel rebuilt with straight 14 gauge spokes. I believe this build is good for up to 250 lbs. Make sure to run that tire at 5 lbs. below max pressure. This should help.

Marc

She is more like 275 and a not a strong rider (hope that changes this year) so she is proably on the seat for many potholes and curbs.

Rural, as noted earlier contact the manufacturer. The owners manual probably says nothing about a weight limit. Normal wear and tear is EXCLUDED. No offense to your friend but at 275lbs a broken spoke may be considered 'normal' wear and tear. To be very honest with you do not mix and match the spokes on the rebuild. Use the alpines all around. Lace it 3 cross and consider 4 crossing it. Do not radial spoke it..

I'm 220lbs and I've broken spokes on every recent bike that I've boughten. In reality if her wheel had been properly made with decent spokes it probably wouldn't have broken. It was probably machine made with black coated spokes right? Well for one thing the black spokes are crap, what happens is the coating wears off around where the spoke hole is in the hub, the hub hole is also exactly where the elbow in the spoke is. The spoke elbow is one of the most highly stress parts of the spoke, when the coating wears off the spoke will develope play between it and the hub, this in turn wears on the elbow and suddenly all your spokes are breaking. Also machine made wheels are not properly stress relieved which only makes the problem worse. I would lace her hub and rim with some DT stainless 14 spokes all away around, three cross on both sides, with 36 holes it should be more then strong enough for her. Don't use bladed or butted spokes, at her weight it wouldn't do any thing for her other then increase the chances of her spokes breaking again. Alex rims aren't exactly high end stuff either, so your Sun rim is probably a good idea as well, however rims themselves have relatively nothing to do with breaking spokes. Also after you get her hub out of the old wheel, take a 1/8 drill bit and twist it by hand in all the holes around the hub, this will remove small bures which could also cause spokes to break. Hope this helps.