Originally Posted by
ThermionicScott
It's probably academic for a lot of us. I haven't broken a spoke yet in 27,000 miles of riding, and that's with anything from 2.0mm straight-gauge spokes to 1.8/1.6/1.8 spokes on my newest wheelset. Spoke metallurgy is pretty good these days.
Jobst Brandt had 300,000+ miles on the spokes in his main set of wheels (1.8/1.6/1.8 IIRC), was not a small guy, and was infamous for departing from paved roads.