Originally Posted by
rpenmanparker
What I'm saying is that you can't disqualify a reason for a spoke breaking as "special case". It is always a special case, i.e. there is always a reason. If you think spokes don't break often, you should go ask your LBS about it. I bet they are replacing spokes all the time. Maybe the best built wheels, made from the best components, ridden by the most careful riders who weigh no more than they should for the particular wheel design, etc., etc., never break a spoke, but so what? The rest of us mortals have to deal with it. But sure the OP's story is a bit odd. No argument there.
I may be wrong about spoke breakage being relatively uncommon, but hopefully you'll forgive me for thinking that because although I've done group rides on some of the worst roads in the nation since junior high back in the mid '80s, I seriously can't recall being on a ride with someone who broke a spoke since the '90s; I think my friend Deb had one go on a ride out near Manchester in '95-'97, somewhere in there. I had a ****ty wheelset on a Diamondback Master TG that broke several in the early '90s before I upgraded to a Bridgestone RB2.
Yeah, my memory is pretty bad, admittedly, but really, it has been a long, long time. Crashes are more common it seems to me. Loose spokes...those too, seem more common. But broken spokes just seem to be a relatively rare occurrence. Of course, it's not the fact that a spoke broke that's vexing me here, rather that it's multiple wheels on a trio of bikes with two different riders in the same household that's just kinda crazy.