Originally Posted by
Paul Barnard
I have built a number of bikes, but I know that wheel building is not something I'd ever be patient enough to do well at.
Of course you get to make your own decisions.
But what helped for me the first time was to stop when it got frustrating and come back to it another day. I think I laced it up one evening. Trued it some more the next, and the next, etc, over several days until I actually rode it.
As for your actual question, hopefully if you are paying for them to tune and tension the wheel they are considering every spoke and not just installing a replacement for one. Have a conversation about what you want, go around plucking them when you get it back.
Not too long after I got it back, I broke another. Is breaking one indicative that others may be in danger of breaking?
Yes. Both because on a lighter wheel having one broken means the tension balance is now off, and because the likely cause of the first one breaking - looseness causing it to come out of tension each rotation - has probably been shared by others too. Plus they're all getting up there in their fatigue life. That's why I ultimately decided to replace all of my spokes rather than just replace all the nipples while leaving a mix of new spokes with those heavily used during a history when I (and perhaps the previous owner) was not paying as much attention to them.
Granted, that was after five broke, not one. But spokes aren't supposed to break in a healthy wheel.