Originally Posted by chriskmurray

Those wheels are not ideal for a heavier rider but to give them a fighting chance making sure they are properly tensioned and stress relieved is key. Did the mechanic actually put a gauge on the spokes or did he just squeeze them? Even after having built well over 1,000 wheels and worked on many thousands more, I still will not consider a wheel complete until it has been double checked by a tension gauge.

I would also have them make sure the hubs are properly adjusted, nearly every new bike ships with the hubs adjusted too tightly.

I personally would make sure the wheels are properly tensioned (with a gauge) and stress relieved and then if you break a spoke start planning on a new set of wheels, realizing a broken spoke will likely leave the bike un-rideable with such low spoke counts. If you have the money and value piece of mind springing for a new set of wheels is not a bad preemptive strike against road side failures though.