Tony,
I had not given it much thought as I do not mind the counter balance. For me, it does a couple things. First is allow me to make sure my rudder is straight as I use the top as a reference. Secondly, it allows the box that the airplane travels in to be shorter. Now a days, with how tall these planes are it makes it challenging to get it under the 115" limits that the airlines require for shipment. Silly as it sounds its a big help. I do have a new fuse I just got today and maybe I can play with this one and maybe do a rudder without the counterbalance.
Andrew