I had all these same thoughts and feelings as you guys, till I went and flew in an SPA contest. Now I have a "legal" SPA plane, and I'll tell you, it's not crippled. All I flew was retracts and tuned pipes, so I had the same views as you guys. Once you go to a contest and see the gear, and fly one of their planes, you'll see there is no difference. They fly just as smooth with the gear down, and I never thought I'd say that. I flew Rossi and YS 60s. The Rossi is a big beefy 60, add the header and the pipe, and you're weighing more then a Surpass. Add the retracts, and there is more weight. THat's one thing you guys aren't thinking about, you can build these planes lighter then "back in the day", even with the OS Surpasses. Lighter planes, lower wingloading, smoother flying. Give it a try, I'll bet you catch the bug.