Originally Posted by
KBentley57
If you can, just talk to him. I know it sucks, even being mildly confrontational, but if I were in your spot the convo would go something like this. "Hey, I'm back again. It seems like the last time you replaced the broken spoke(s) they worked very well, but only for a few miles. I know you probably don't rebuild wheels that often, but since it keeps being an issue, do you think it would be possible to completely de-tension the wheel, and true it from slack spokes? I'm concerned that by only replacing the broken spoke and doing a touch up from there, that the others have become randomly tensioned, contributing to the newly broken spokes." I know it sounds overly nice and pandering, but lets be real, no mechanic builds wheels from scratch in general, and the ones that do, with exception of wheel builders, probably don't do it often. This gives them a chance to really fix the problem while saving face, it'll possibly give you a wheel that works, and everyone's mildly happy at the outcome. If that line of communication fails, or the wheel fails afterwards, then it'd be time to switch shops.
I'd also ask the wheel builder exactly what tension they are putting on the spokes. Unfortunately, a lot of wheelbuilders at an LBS will check tension with a "ping" test to see if the spokes are equally tensioned. That will work for most cyclists, but for a Clyde, they really need to use a meter to check the tension. If you ask them, and they used a meter, they can tell you. If they used the ping test, you'll probably get some hemming and hawing about the tension. Ask them to use a meter to check the tension. Put it on yourself by saying that do to your weight, you're a lot harder on spokes than most cyclists, and that you would appreciate it if they use a meter to check the tension on the spokes to make sure they are evenly tensioned.
Might not hurt, if you got a meter to measure the tension of the spokes, and make it part of your monthly maintenance routine. And if they can give you numbers on what tension the drive-side and non-drive-side spokes should be tensioned to, then you can keep them there, and that will help you with your spoke issue.
GH