About a month ago, I noticed small cracks in my rear wheel where the spokes attach, about 10 total of varying severity. Figured I was headed toward a new wheel in the near future. About a week ago I broke two spokes (at the hub) on the ride home. The broken ones were on either side of the spoke with the worst cracks and that one was nearly pulled through the wheel. I knew the time had come for a new wheel. Put the new one one two days ago and noticed the spokes were no where near as taut as my old ones.

So now I'm thinking that my feeble attempt to true my wheels was probably behind the trouble but oddly every crack was on the cassette side of the hub. I did replace a broken spoke last year, also from the cassette side.

I'd be very interested in any thoughts/opinions that the collective knowledge base here can offer.

Other facts that may be pertinent, its a 10 year old Trek 7200 that sat largely idle for half that time. Only 4000 miles on the wheel with more than 25% of those this season and 3/4 of them from commuting the last 3 years. I tip the scales at 230 and the luggage adds another 10-20 pounds.