torque on the rear wheel
 

Okay, here's the problem, I have built this SS out of an old large tube Cannondale, I love this ride! Sure it is a little stiff, and riding 700/20s I feel just about every bump and nuance of the pavement flowing under me. But there is a fly in the vasoline, I'm breaking spokes on the rear. No, I didn't replace a broken spoke and ride again, I took a whole new wheel set and rode. The spokes have broken on the non-drive side of the rear wheel. The first wheel went at 250 miles, the replacement (a Rolf Vector) busted on my commute last night at 15 miles into the ride. This has me thinking that it isn't the wheels but could be the forces placed on the wheel by my style (all out: run a 175 crank 53x15), my size (6'1" 225), the frame (Al tends to be real stiff).
I was ready to just say it was a bad wheel build as I bought the wheelset specifically to ride SS. I was going the inexpensive route, rather than get a wheel built for SS, I spaced it with spacers and a cog from an old cassette, and now I've got two wheels that I need to rebuild and no idea what to try, or where to go with this. Anyone have a similar problem? Any idea how to resolve the situation?

That's a large gear and a long crank length and your body stats might contribute to the breakage. However, what rear wheel were you running? How was it laced and how do you ride? It sounds like you'll need something a little more bombproof. In these cases it's best to get a good solid rear wheel otherwise you'll run into these kinds of problems.

I'm no expert on Rolf wheels and I don't know which Rolf vector model you have (pro, comp, etc) but every wheel I saw on line with the words Rolf Vector in the name were very unsuitable for someone weighing in at 225lbs. I think you're lucky that you only broke spokes. I weigh 250lbs and know I need a good strong 36 hole deep (aero-type) rim. I ride Velocity Deep-Vee and Fusion rims. How many spokes does this rim have? How is it laced?

Please let me know if I'm looking at the wrong rims ... like I said, the ones I saw were more suited to someone weighing 150lbs.

Jim