ok, this is the (maybe) last entry i'll post on this thread so it can die. i've ridden the hubs quite a bit since the last time i posted on this. so far, the nut seems to be holding up. i got a message from paul saying that he replaced the axle and nut. according to him, there was something about the previous axle that was not letting the nut seat properly and was putting an unusual amount of stress on it, so thats why it kept breaking. i did notice something weird about the threading when i tried to remove the last broken locknut. i'm still paranoid about breaking the nut, but yesterday i went on a fairly long ride and rode reasonably hard, so..... all in all, i would still recommend the hubs to folks and when i get a camera i'll post some pics of the wheelset. hopefully, by posting all this, i didn't just doom myself to having them explode into a million pieces.