32 3 cross front and back. Just about to put my bike in to get the wheels rebuilt with a new hub on front and investing double butted spokes front and rear (trying to lighten the wheels up a bit...a wee bit).

The guy from the bike maintenance shop (he doesn't sell bikes, maintenance service only) told me this......

The treatment utilised to make spoke black actually weakens the spokes inferring that black spokes are more prone to breakages than silver ones. If i was to tot all my broken spokes up I really would have to agree. Could this be true? My maintenance man is held in the upmost regard by all who have used him.

So maybe the number of spokes isn't the only factor in developing / implementing a strong commuting wheel.