I bought new Velocity Aeroheats with Shimano XT hubs. 36 hole. I'm an everyday commuter and I wanted some bombproof wheels. I'm 53 yrs old so I figure these should last me to the end. Great wheels so far. They handle anything.

I never thought a spoke count thread could fascinate me so... OK I just checked and my commuter bike has 32 - never knew that until now. I only knew it had more than my Specialized Roubaix, which I now know has only 24 spokes.

The Roubaix has never had a wheel problem, but it experiences completely different riding conditions than my commuter bike. And my commuter bike was fine for about 1,500 miles - then it broke a spoke, and 100 miles later broke another one. After my LBS installed heavier spokes, a 100 miles later the wheel was out of true and two spokes were so loose they were almost out of the nipple, but at least they didn't break. So then my LBS trued it again and said they tightened them up. I've since gone about 100 miles on it with no problems. Now only time will tell...

I'm especially intrigued by Grivooga's post - his anecdotal report leads me to believe that indeed, my commuter bike was blowing spokes because of poor spoke tension. And when I paid my LBS for heavier spokes, perhaps he didn't thoroughly tighten them down, which explains that almost failure.