cloudbuster, you better look a little closer. I own a Zen with counterbalance on rudd/elev. And absolutely no problem with the retracts. I owned the TaiJai, it did not have counterbalance. Read carefully.

As for the CPLR design, I'm going on what I was told by someone in conversation. If this is not the case I stand corrected. It would be interesting to know though. Regardless, it's almost certain it had the same designer as the "Madness". They are just very close to me in the overall lines, with the exception of manufacturing. The Madness is a very nice ARF.
I comment very little on things I don't own, but I'm sharing my experience with what I do/have owned.
There are so many nice planes out. What about the Kangke line, have you looked into those Mav.? They look pretty good from what I've seen. That's about all I can tell you on those. Good luck.