I have not tried the tapered lug nut trick, but will likely give it a go at some point. On several occasions, when not happy with ride smoothness, I have tried loosening and retightening the wheels without significant gain in ride quality. It is indeed a curious mounting arrangement, and I wonder what the logic is in going that route. Eventually I will likely have my wheels modified for conventional tapered seat lug nuts. This will probably happen if and when I go to the trouble to machine a register on the back of the wheels and a custom adaptor for balancing.