Last year, I broke several rear wheel spokes on my old mountain bike, all at once. I wound up giving that one to a guy at the LBS and buying a used Norco Indie from them in June. All was fine until September, when I started snapping a rear spoke a day. I replaced the wheel with a hand-laced job from a local shop, probably a mid-range thing (I paid $250 CDN). All was fine.

Then Christmas Day came. SNAP!! I took it in and got it repaired at the same shop, they chalked it up to a bum spoke. Yesterday, same deal, a busted rear spoke. I finally just bought some spares, figuring I'll just check tension monthly and be ready to replace them.

Here's the question: why only rear spokes? I've never busted a front spoke, only a rear. I'm a big, fat guy, which probably explains the snapping spokes, but I would have expected fronts to break as often as rears.

Any thoughts?