but it's close enough. Every Sunday there's a big group ride hosted by one of the local shops, and there's typically a few different groups of varying skill levels and speeds. I went out with the ~31kph group and was enjoying the conversation as quite a few expats were in the same group. Roughly 15km into the ride as we're getting out into the country, I notice by front wheel has gone slightly out of true and loosened the brake QR to stop it rubbing, but didn't think much more of it.

Another 15km or so after that, we'd just come out of a roundabout and were waiting for someone to fix a flat and the wheel was still fine and hadn't gotten any worse, so I figured it was safe to ride on. After starting up again and getting up to speed, a few riders at the front started to break off in preparation for the town line sprint, so I started to accelerate after them when I start feeling a large amount of wobble and the bars begin to shake; I look down and see the wheel practically vibrating from side to side, and start feathering the brakes to slow down ASAP. After managing to bring the bike to a halt, my companion and I, as well as a number of the riders behind us that had stopped to see what happend started to examine the wheel. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Looks like I popped a spoke, should be able to keep riding once I remo...oh, that's two spokes, actually."

Companion: "Nope, there's three gone on the same side. If you baby it you can probably ride to the train station."

Me: "Oh look, here's another one, and another...and another...and another"

The total count: 9 spokes gone in under 500m

The wheelset was brand new and my bike is less than two months old. I've logged virtually every kilometer with my Forerunner, and have 810 kilometers on it. I've ridden over my fair share of frost heaves and potholes, but at 129 pounds dripping wet, I think I should be able to ride a 22 spoke front wheel.

Here's a picture of the wheel once I finally managed to get home, I've highlighted where the missing spokes go:
Picture here, too large to inline

I'm going to stop by the LBS tomorrow to see if they'll rebuild it under warranty, hopefully they'll be amicable

That's crazy. Did the LBS build the wheels?

As far as I know, no. They came stock with my Defy 2, so I assume that they're machine built at Mavic's factory.

Why are you so light?

Urthwhyte, Denmark is famous for beer, bacon and dairy - so answer the man.

Still too fat for my other sport
Liquid calories, not kosher, and no good Cheddar. Next question

You're still too fat for this sport.

and apparently for this wheel

thats crazy. i have cpx 22s on my cross bike, and beat the hell out of them with zero problems so far. they were built by hand though, i believe..

What is your other sport? Starving?

Running

Focus shouldn't be on the rim so much as on the spokes. Do you know what brand/model they were?

On last Sunday's group ride, the guy I was trailing on a descent suddenly got a HUGE rear wheel wobble. Fulcrum wheel with tiny double-butted spokes. The first spoke snapped without any warning (or apparent provocation). I told him that his rear wheel was out of true. It started rubbing the brake. He flipped the brake release, it still rubbed. He pulled over to stop and the wheel was so far out of true that it wouldn't turn past the released brake.

Are wheel builders going too far with the "teeny-tiny little spokes" thing? My Ksyrium SLs have beefy spokes and are still lighter than most clinchers out there.

also, where did the spokes break? did the heads snap off, or did they just pull out of the nipples?

2 snapped, the rest pulled out of the nipples

jeebus! have a salad there lardo.

Ksyrium spokes are so huge because they are aluminum.

Sapim CX-Ray FTW. No more random spoke problems even after you put on a few pounds.

He's three feet tall?

I'm kind of wondering if maybe they accidentally used spoke nipples that were a different gauge than the spoke ends. I'm not sure if that would explain the two with the popped heads though. maybe they loosened up enough for the heads to fatigue and pop?

5'7.5" or so
I honestly have no idea, my wheel building experience is virtually nil, all I know at this point is that I'm probably going to have trouble riding tomorrow

I'm taller and lighter than the OP. You're all too fat for this sport.

*Runs away.*

That's pretty funny.

..

Two year warranty is standard here; you should have no trouble with the LBS, but don't settle for less than a whole new wheel.

A friend had a wheel with very similar symptoms: the spokes kept pulling out of the nipples (though not so dramatically!). Wish I could remember what brand he had. Most likely, the broken ones were the last to go, after the others had pulled out and strained them too much.

I believe Urthwhyte is British. I should hope he has better taste than for Danish beer.

So no leverpostej for you? What a shame...