The Tiporare was designed in such a way that it was never conceived to ride as a tail dragger. The nose of the fuse (glass or wood) is designed to accommodate the gear, whether FW or belly mounted, nicely and retract fully into the fuse without cutting into the wing as in a Phoenix for example. Further, it is also designed in such a way that by placing the fuel tank floor just above the gear, your tank ends up positioned at the right height.

The tank floor can be installed and reinforced in order to allow the installation of belly mounted gear from underneath for those who have difficulty accessing bolts from within the wing cavity. Of course this may necessitate a larger opening under the nose to insert the retract unit unless you drop the gear in from the wing cavity.

Finally, the Tipo has a stab with 4-3/8" of anhedral. Put a tail wheel under the rudder and you might want to consider putting wing tip skids under your stab tips as well

I find it difficult to justify modifying the gear design of an airplane because it "weighs less" - I'm sure Dick Hanson would be shaking his head on that thought.

However, Extra's and Yak's don't look bad as tail draggers. In fact, a tail dragging Tipo is akin to an Extra with a nose wheel sticking out of its cowl. Make it retractable and it will tuck away nicely between the Pitts muffler exhausts. The wheel can be used as a brake on the drive washer to drop RPM's when needed.