Originally Posted by
Cypress
Breaking a spoke on a paired-spoke wheel usually makes it unrideable.
IMO breaking spokes is a thing that shouldn't happen on a decent modern wheel, unless you crash it or there's a flaw in the spoke.
Modern and decent means straight pull and low spoke count, ie less than 20/24 (although disc wheels should be at least 24). No elbow to distort and fatigue, putting all the stretch into the thin part of the spoke, and low spoke count means high spoke tension, further avoiding fatigue.
So meh to the question of what happens when you break a spoke - it shouldn't apply to a performance wheelset. Touring or commuting, sure.
As for hubs... There can be only one. If you look closely at freehub designs, it should be obvious that Mavic is junk thanks to that nasty bushing (although they get points for the outboard DS axle bearing). And just about every other brand (with the exception of cheap stuff from Alex and Joytech) employ a floating cassette body design unlike Shimano's.
Unlike Campy, every Shimano hub uses proper cup and cone bearings throughout (every Campy freehub uses cartridge bearings in the cassette body), and the freehub design puts the DS axle next to the dropout where it belongs, since the freehub body is a stressed member. Pro tip: you can even adjust the cassette body bearing preload via shims - the DS cup has a couple of notches and a left hand thread.
The only thing I'm not a fan of is the flange placement; it's better than most but there's still a lot of room for improvement, as demonstrated by the hubs on my Caden Decadence wheelset, which also look miles better.
Unfortunately, just like almost all 'high end' hubs, they're junk inside - electric motor bearings with no preload adjustment and a ridiculously loud freehub with a DS axle bearing near the centre of the axle.