How many have had a broken spoke and what type of wheel were you on? Hand Built? Factory Built?

I ask because while I've been searching threads and trying to gain as much knowledge before making decision on what type of wheels to purchase for my bike, there seems to be a pattern with broken spokes and hand built wheels. I don't know if it's inexperienced builders, or what the deal is? Also, factory built wheels seem to have lower spoke counts with higher recommended rider weight limits like my Ultegra 6700's 16/20 spoke count with a 275lb rider limit but if I inquire about having a wheelset built they recommend 28/32 or 32/32? What gives? I have another thread going here (go deep or not) and still haven't completely disregarded going with a deep rim just yet but I find myself leaning towards light and wide instead so I just need some food for thought, thanks!

I know of no correlation between hand-built wheels and broken spokes. If there were, one cause could be the customer making unwise choices regarding rims, hubs, and/or spokes.

Another cause could be poor build quality in DIY wheels. In general broken spokes result from inadequate spoke tension such as on the rear NDS or large spoke-to-spoke tension variation either on one side or side-to-side. Proper wheel design and rigorous building standards can avoid this.

Another cause can be poor quality spokes. Some stainless steels and spoke manufacturing techniques simply yield have very poor fatigue failure resistance. If you stick with either DT or Sapim spokes, you will not have this problem.

Another possible cause of spoke failure is using spokes that are too heavy (too thick a gauge). I know that sounds backwards, but it is true. You need to stretch spokes significantly for them to resist going slack as the wheel is compressed at every point on the circumference on every revolution and especially when subject to impacts. Going slack is what causes spokes to fatigue at the ends. At any given tension a thicker spoke is stretched less than a thinner spoke. Spokes almost always break at one end or the other where fatigue occurs. Since almost all double butted spokes share the same gauges at their ends with heavier spokes (2.0 mm at each end), they are just as strong at those points as the heavier spokes. But they don't go slack as readily because they are stretched more. Therefore, the lighter spokes are more durable than the heavier spokes.

Finally, it is imperative that spokes be "stress relieved" during the building process. Both machine wheel builders and hand wheel builders (who are inexperienced) often omit this step or do it completely wrong. That causes a large portion of the broken spokes.

I hope all this helps.

I've built six wheelsets, mostly on 32/36 with J-bend spokes from 1.8 mm to 1.5 mm, and would describe myself as a diligent, careful, and learning wheelbuilder. Never broken a spoke in a wheel I've built. I weigh 185-195 (fluctuates) and on my commuter bike, am carrying a 10-20 lb backpack. You have to carefully stress relieve and adequately tension a wheel during building. If you do it correctly, the handbuilt wheel will be very strong. If you have someone else build the wheel, you're dependent on his or her skill and diligence. I did have had one broken spoke on a wheel (rear non-drive side) that I didn't build, so I tore it down and rebuilt it, and have had no problems since. Usually broken spokes mean insufficient tension.

I'm around 215 lbs and ride on machine built wheels. I prefer 32-spoke wheels for my road bike and have 36-spoke wheels on my touring bike. I ride on Mavic Open Pro rims on my road bike and have used Mavic CXP-33 rims in the past. The 33s are about bombproof and somewhat deep. The OPs haven't caused me any problems yet.

I bought a new bike in 2009 and it came with 20-spoke wheels on the front and 24-spokes on the back. These wheels were wobbly even after being retensioned at the LBS and I soon replaced them with the OPs.

On the other hand I had some Rolf Vector Comps a number of years ago with even fewer spokes and those wheels were great (until I crashed the bike in a race which destroyed the front wheel - that wasn't the wheel's fault).

I've broken a spoke on my reynolds. It's a couple bucks to replace. Not really a big deal. I wouldn't let the worry of breaking a spoke stray you from one wheel to another, just make sure the wheels can handle your weight.

I've owned 3 or 4 sets of factory-built wheels and 3 sets of handbuilt wheels in the past ~10 years. I've broken a spoke on each of the factory-built wheels (once each). I've never broken a spoke on the handbuilt wheels.

(The handbuilts were all built by bona fide pros, not me!)

The only spoke I have seen break is on a friends bike. He has a reynolds wheelset that he bought new and after a summer of riding down here (Rains everyday in florida in the summer) his spoke broke on one of our rides. Brought it back to where he bought it and they told him it was from rust. The rims were 4 months old.

The real problem isn't even broken spokes, in my opinion, it's spokes loosening and wheels coming out of true.

Further, I think the hand built vs. factory/machine built paradigm is old and out of sync with the times. Machine built wheels have, at least at the premium segment, become very reliable, both for design and process. In some cases, parts of the process are automated or machines used, but real attention is paid, by real people and hands, to balancing and stress relief.

There's just not that big a difference between hand built and factory wheels, I don't think, and certainly hand built is no guarantee of quality; the brand is your guarantee.