Originally Posted by
Amesja
Here is my $.02
Unless there was external damage, spokes break because of fatigue. Spokes don't fatigue individually but the whole set more or less fatigues evenly. Some maybe a little bit faster depending on their relative tension. If you have had 3 spokes break so far I would bet the others aren't too far behind.
A rule of thumb is when 4 spokes break on a wheel it is time to rebuild it.
It's $20 for set of 2mm stainless straight-gauge spokes. Why mess around with 30-year old spokes that you don't even know the history of? If this is just a cruiser for occasional riding then maybe let it go for now with a few new spokes. If you plan on riding the bike regularly it's probably a good idea to rebuild the wheels.
This. My experience has been that when spokes break in small bunches, if you check the others you'll find they're not far behind. If this is a rider, you'll want the replacement spokes to also fatigue evenly over time, so it would be prudent to rebuild the wheel rather than replace them one at a time as they break.
I'm thinking it's time to rebuild.