Originally Posted by
LeeG
I recall a survey on this forum or another that listed most common mechanical failures and I think drive side spoke breakage was the most common . I don't doubt that something caused all the spokes to break on one side but my limited experience is that most breakages are rear drive side.
Hmmm, yeah, well, okay. I dunno.
Spokes may break for more than one reason. What OP described, I maintain, is from insufficient tension on the spokes --either the left side spokes or all, I can't tell yet. That's different from the zipper effect, described by Doohickie a couple posts back, which is what happens when one spoke fails and the ones next to it come under increased tension. The zipper effect may be happening with spokes that are already compromised by fatigue. Aside from that, you can take a brand new wheel, perfectly tensioned, and hit a bump hard enough to break a spoke.
As for the drive side, versus non-drive side; the drive side spokes are typically under more tension, on account of the wheel's dished shape. In some circumstances this may make a difference to spoke longevity. It's hard to troubleshoot the problem in the abstract.