Originally Posted by
Wesley36
Then, after all that is sorted, the new spoke is laced in, and the whole wheel needs to be re-trued and re-tensioned. Remember, the reason a spoked wheel works so well is because it works as a whole. When a spoke breaks, this will effect all the neighboring spokes as well. So it is not as simple as slapping on a new spoke and tensioning that one spoke to how it was before.
That's what I think too.
There's no way to tell if the charge is fair with the information given. If the shop took all the steps Wesley mentioned, I'd say that's fair because it's almost as much work as building a whole wheel from new parts. If the shop "cheaped out" on what they did, think of it as a learning experience.
Why did the spoke break? A common cause for drive side spokes breaking is shifting the chain into the spokes. If that's the case, the shop should have replaced all 8 or 9 outside spokes. That's what I would have done.
Incidentally, when I was building wheels regularly 12 or 13 years ago, I charged $1.00 per spoke for labor. Today I'd charge more.