Lots of good info! Thanks! Well, my back wheel is at the shop right now. He thought my spokes were getting fatigued and its the old spokes breaking one by one so we are going to try putting on a set of heavier, thicker spokes and see if I still get broken spokes. If I do, then I will replace the wheel.

The bike/wheel is about 4 years old and riden about 4000 or less miles. I've never dropped the chain. I ride on dirt, gravel, and paved roads. I try not to hit bumps hard or anything like that. Although in the past I have gone down some washboard hills where it was tough to find a smooth spot. I weigh about 180.

I counted the spokes on my front wheel (since the back one is at the shop) and there are 36 spokes. Each spoke goes over one and under another - so a two cross pattern I guess. It's going to cost about $35 to get all new spokes. I don't know if that's a good price or not, but its worth it not to have to keep going back if it does correct the problem. They've been great about replacing spokes for me though. They only charge like $5. Are spokes hard to change yourself? I worry about one breaking too far from home.

I guess I'll just have to see if this fixes the problem or if the rim is damaged. Once I broke two spokes and the wheel got all crooked so would that have done permanent damage? I'm trying to remember if anyone hit this bike with the car, but I'm thinking that was my old bike. As kids, we were really tough on bikes and I never broke a spoke. I never even heard of such a thing happening. But, now I'm probably riding way more miles so that must wear things out. Its Schwinn bike. Do they not have very good wheels?

Thanks everybody for all your help!