Originally Posted by Myosmith

250 isn't all that heavy. I'm right in your weight range and rode entry level 36-spoke wheels with single-wall rims and 28mm tires for 1,100 miles my first summer of riding. Those wheels are still on my Plan B bike and I've only replaced a couple of spokes on them since they were new.

I've got over 3,100 miles on so far this year and just mid-summer switched to a pair of 36-spoke handbuilt with midlevel rims and hubs on my touring bike. On my road bike I've got 20-year-old stock midlevel 32-spoke wheels and haven't broken a spoke yet.

Once you get away from the really cheap components, the build becomes more important than the wheel components. Midlevel components assembled by an expert wheel builder are superior to high-end components slapped together in some factory mass production every time IMHO.

Repeated spot truing of wheels can result in uneven tension even if the wheel appears to spin true. This will cause a wheel to go out of true again fairly quickly, more spot truing, cycle continues. Take the offending wheel off and loosen all of the spokes until they are quite loose, then true and tension the entire wheel. The main wheel builder at one of the LBSs did this to my entry level factory wheels and I never broke another spoke. If you have 36-spoke wheels in a 3-cross pattern, consider having them rebuilt in a 4-cross. My hand built wheels were done this way and I honestly believe that it reduces road vibration and makes for a more solid feeling wheel.