I bought one for my wife for Christmas and we have taken it out twice. The joiner rod takes all the stress and the two thick plastic covers hold the wing together and act as pressure points for the rubber bands so they don't bite into the wing.

I have only flown it off of paved runways and the ground handling seems quite normal. Are you sure the nose wheel is not off center?

How does it fly? Really well IMO, like a trainer should fly. Not at all underpowered either and it will fly for at least 15 minutes on a charge at cruise power. I'm thinking of changing the battery lead to a Deans connector just to be compatible with my other electric plane stuff.