Spokes Snapping

I am going through a ridiculous amount of spokes at the rear. Three in about 500k. They break at the elbow. My LBC have been replacing them and trueing the wheel but I get the feeling they are not doing a good job.
Is there a possibility that my wheel is too delicate for the street having previously been only track ridden although clincher. I am running a Campag sherrif star (I am aware of the issues) and Fir EL 20 rims.

What spoking pattern?

Sounds like they simply putting in a new spoke and tightening it to get the wheel straight.
This doesn't help even out spoke tension since when one spoke goes, all the rest will change a little bit. Probably not stress relieving the spoke/s either.

http://yarchive.net/bike/stress_relieve.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/stress-relieving.html

32h 3 cross

This whole spoke thing capsizes my brain. I just can't get my head around it.

A properly built 32h 3x wheel should not break spokes. Simple as that. (unless you weigh 500kg maybe ;))

I knew I shouldn't have let that gorilla 'have a go' last week. Damn primates.

I was thinking maybe the LBS were bodging it. Now I know.

Thanks

500'000 mile is alot tho!

if you wheel is to tight that can cause the to snap as the wheel has no give in them

Are they tight enough? compare spoke tension with another wheel? I hear that broken spokes mostly come from spokes not having a high enough tension.. (never broke a spoke in any of the wheels I build for myself so I don't know for sure:)

I am going through a ridiculous amount of spokes at the rear. Three in about 500k. They break at the elbow. My LBC have been replacing them and trueing the wheel but I get the feeling they are not doing a good job.
Is there a possibility that my wheel is too delicate for the street having previously been only track ridden although clincher. I am running a Campag sherrif star (I am aware of the issues) and Fir EL 20 rims.

That Radio station can't build wheels for shit, better take them to your LBS next time ;)

What is the spoke tension like? If the build is too loose then they flex too much and fail early.
Similar if they are too tight the excess tension snaps them.

Try and compare the tension to a good wheel.

500'000 mile is alot tho!

if you wheel is to tight that can cause the to snap as the wheel has no give in them

500K is 500'000 metres I think.

Has the hub been built up before with a different set of spokes/pattern?
Are the spokes seated ok in the hub?
Flanges straight?
Equal tension throughout the wheel?
Is it the same spoke thats breaking?

If anymore snap, rebuild the wheel with new spokes and using brass washers. The head will sit better into the brass washer putting less strain between the spoke and the hub.

I had this problem and just kept replacing spokes, but now I know you just prolong the problem as wheel tension is all over the place popping the opposite spokes you replaced etc aswell as a constant mission to true your wheel every couple of days.
You are best to rebuild the wheel from scratch using decent spokes (sapim I used), that solved the problem for me.

How are you chaining up your bike? I've snapped and weakened spokes through careless use of a cable lock through the back wheel. Maybe something to think about if none of the other suggestions help.

If one spoke breaks then it puts all the others out of balance. You can't just go and replace the broken one and then true the wheel. You need to re-tension the wheel. If the other spokes are still in good shape then it's worth doing.

Also check the rim for wear. If there are any hairline cracks especially around the eyeholes then it may need replacing. The rim takes the bulk of the stress on the wheel.

I've retensioned quite a few wheels where spokes have popped and they can be made stronger than they were in the first place. Other than damaged spokes I would suggest that the wheel wasn't built properly in the first place or not well maintained.

Pedants. On reflection, maybe three spokes in five hundred thousand miles isn't much.
Commuting to the international spacestation can be a drag in the wet, I can tell you.

I wondered about LBC, some bloke called Cristo said he could sort me out, he said to leave my bike with the security guard. I'm never taking it there again. Local radio talk show hosts, you can't trust 'em.

In these situations, for me language and the ugliness of xenophobia is a problem, I am a foreigner, I don't speak catalan, the shop already think I am insane for riding a track bike in the street, and thus do not take me seriously anyway. (I think it's that, but it could be the falsetto voice I use when I go in there)

I could learn to do it myself but it confuses me and I have no patience plus, as soon as any thing resembling a bicycle tool comes out at home I have to offer a long explaination to my gf as to where my loyalties really lie. Factor in a stalker of three and a half years and the fact that I can't buy that fake bacon stuff here and you have a pretty good idea of my life.

The fags are cheap though.

One thing that will break spokes is if the tensions are all out of balance throughout the wheel putting stress on individual spokes - okay that is obvious, and already said.

One way to check if this is the case is to pluck the spokes (like a harp) if they all have more or less the same 'note' (which will be a different 'note' on each side of the wheel if it is dished) then okay - it is another problem.You will probably find though is that there are very different notes even if the wheel is more or less true, in which case you need to properly retension those with much higher and lower notes whilst keeping it 'true' (easier said than done unless you have some skill here - better for a 'builder' with a jig to do), just replacing snapped spokes will not work - they will snap again.

What