Hi folks,

Newbie to the forum but an experienced cyclist.

I'm 32yo and despite spending most of my youth on a mountain bike, over the last decade or so I have let myself go a bit (c. 240lbs). A few years ago I got an MTB on a cycle-to-work program, enjoyed it but found I was mainly riding on roads, so I sold it and bought a road bike instead. Predictably soon after, I missed being able to go off-road and the road bike ended up in the garage collecting dust, where it remains today! 3 months ago I decided to admit I had made a mistake and bought an MTB (Scott Scale 760), this time to be had in addition to the road bike!

In these 3 months I have done 500 miles (exactly, oddly), go out 3-4 times a week and am starting to see the weight come off and Strava times tumble. Hoorah. Unfortunately it's not been plain sailing lately...

A few weeks ago I had a couple of rear spokes break, only noticed by chance on a pre-ride inspection. Took the rear wheel back to the store to be repaired. Job done. Last week on a ride I had a bit of a fall, (landed in brambles & nettles, naturally), but found although I hadn't broken spokes, the front wheel had taken a knock and was out of true. Limped home. Took the front-wheel to the LBS to be repaired. Job done. Now a couple of days ago, on a fairly gentle ride, I braked approaching a junction and *ping* another rear spoke snapped, as had another at some point on the ride.

I called the store and spoke to a lady, she agreed it sounded like the hubs or spokes could be faulty and it would likely be a warranty replacement. I took the wheels back to the store, again, who have taken them off me and are going to speak to the manufacturer (The bike is a Scott, the wheels Syncros 32H 27.5")- however the guy behind the desk was less helpful than the lady before and said he thought they would just be told to repair the broken spokes and re-true the wheel.

Does this sound reasonable? I am well aware that I am a heavier rider, but I cannot keep losing a week at a time having my wheels rebuilt every time a spoke snaps (or even learning to do it myself). I am not much heavier than I was when I was riding my prev MTB, and I did over 1500 miles over 3 years on that one without any wheel-issues (Bottom bracket was another story...)

If I do get the same wheels back (repaired) and spokes continue to break (or worse - replacement wheels that also frequently snap spokes), would I benefit from some heavier rider-friendly wheels? And if so, what should I be looking for?

(Just to add - I am riding off road, but it's pretty gentle trail riding that I am doing, not hurdling myself down mountains or around berms at 30mph! lol)

Cheers for any advice or suggestions.

PB