Rowdog,
I know the retracts are expensive,but for the first flight I left mine down and was quite suprised on the next flight how much better the Stag tracked with the gear up. Plus you gotta admit, looks pretty cool with the gear up. As far as the nose weight, I was pretty suprised too, when I pick the plane up (haven't weight it yet, but it's heavy) sure feels nose heavy, but on the balancer, comes out just very slightly nose down at the recommended 5.5 inches.

Russ