I've found that provided I'm riding on wheels that I've built myself, I'm extremely unlikely to break a spoke. The last time I broke a spoke in wheels that I'd built was in 1980-something and then it turned out that the spokes themselves were defective in manufacture (as verified by sectioning and microscopic examination). Some of said wheels have done about 80000 miles.
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Given your oft reported aversion to disc brakes, how do you make a rim-braked wheel last 80,000 miles Brucey ?
I've managed to chomp through the rim of (an admittedly factory built wheel) in ~3000 miles.
Do you secretly ride disc or is the decimal point in the wrong place ?
I don't think I'm especially averse to disc brakes per se (I've been using them for decades on some bikes) I just don't think that they free of issues and/or are always best thing for every application. I think that they come with as many downsides as upsides in many applications; not so much a tasty treat that suits anyone as just another 'choose your poison' option; no brakes are free of compromise. Folk assume there is a choice between rim brakes (normally on badly machined, swarf-releasing 'soft-as-shite' rims) and disc brakes only. There are also coaster brakes, roller brakes, band brakes, and expanding drum brakes. Each has their own virtues and shortcomings.
By miles, I ride most on rim brakes and drum brakes these days, with discs in third place. By length of time I spend faffing with them, I spend most time on disc brakes and least on drum brakes.
To make a rim brake wheel last that long you have to
a) build it well (*)
b) get lucky (with potholes etc)
c) be careful about the brake blocks you use
d) not use the brakes very much
When out on a typical training ride I mightn't have to use the brakes more than once every ten miles or so, and then I'd normally use the front not the rear brake; the front rim is nearly always cleaner (so less net wear) and the front brake is going to stop you better too. On such a bike the rear brake is only there for emergencies really. Other uses would favour different brakes/bikes and generate other wear rates.
(*) nothing lasts for ever; two years ago the hub on one of my highest mileage wheels broke an axle and the replacement internal (which I built from spare parts) turned out not to be the same; to my consternation this suffered a catastrophic failure just yesterday, of the 'wheel won't turn any more so you will have to carry the bike' variety. I honestly though the wheel was scrap but to my surprise repair was possible, and not only that an hour or so after starting work, I was rolling again. The culprit was a change of material specification in one of the parts in the hub; some twit had taken a design that had been manufactured for about thirty years and had been quite reliable, and had decided that they 'knew better' so had downgraded the material used in one of the most highly stressed parts. Duh.
cheers