Im trying to get a new plane, (Sport Stick), as a second plane, and it has two options, either the trike gear or the taildragger version. THis got to me because i have no idea which ones better, help me please!

niether is "better" in my humble opinion.... I think it is more personal preference....

I like taildraggers myself

I like both. I prefer tail draggers on sport planes. But trike on fast planes...

Tail dragger
Advantages: low weight, low drag
Disadvantages: less positive ground handling, nose over will damage prop

Trike
Advantages: More positive ground handling, protects (sometimes) prop in nose over
Disadvantages: increased weight & drag

Both styles work well on any typical runway surface, but takeoff/landing procedure is a bit different. Most notibly with a tail dragger you must apply a bit of up elevator on high drag surfaces such as grass to prevent nose overs. No big deal once you are used to it. As for which is better... that all depends on what you want.

well since that arf, i just found out, comes with the two configurations, i might explore around

IMHO taildragger all the way! Just more fun landing and less drag.

really? Guess ill try that.

taildragger would be a good idea(specialy since you say you can do both) since so many planes i see are TD's

yeah most warbirds are like that. By the way, is a stick a good plane between a trainer and a warbird?

I would go for a low wing at least.

I had the same decision problem, went with trike gear only because I find it a tad bit easier to land, and seem to bounce the tail draggers around like crazy when landing. Take-off doesn't seem to bother me as I am a rudder user anyway. The only problem I found with the trike gear is that on grass fields, which are not usually flat and smooth, the nose gear takes a beating. If you fly on grass, just watch that nose gear on a touch-and-go. On my Tiger 60, I have to bend it to straighten it out after the day's flying is over. I have replaced the wire twice.

Tough decision but no matter what you choose, you will cope with the shortcomings of each setup and probably end up with a tail dragger. I am moving to convert mine over slowly but I have to learn to land without bouncing.

yeah i have a trike trainer, and my field is rough grass, after every flight i have to bend the gear to place.

I hate nose-gear! They are a total pain in the neck and need constant adjustment and for the beginning pilot often need to be replaced entirely (along with the firewall that gets ripped out with it on a hard landing).

After day after day at the field fixing bent/broken/misaligned nose gear on my trainer I finally just ripped the thing out and did a quicky conversion to a tail dragger. Took less that an hour of work. My problems were over.

At this point you'd have to pay me serious money to ever fly a plane with nose-gear again. I've found the ground handling with my three tail-draggers (Trainer to TD conversion, Lucky Stik to TD converson. and Seagull Spacewalker II) to be just as easy to handle on the ground at that pesky nose-gear trainer. And I don't break any more props that I did with the nose-gear. Recently I even replaced the tail wheel on the Lucky Stik with a simple metal skid (like the WWI planes I prefer) and even there had no real problems -- you just have to blip the throttle and make slow, wider turns. You shouldn't be driving your model around the field anyway.

So absolutely give up the "training wheel" and get yourself a taildragger!!!

taildraggers aren't THAT difficult, but trikes are really that EASY ground handling. taking off in crosswinds, the taildragger will want to weathervane and maybe groundloop while i've never seen that happen with a trike. also, on the ground during taxiing, you have the same problems. i don't have a single trike flying right now. i think taildraggers are much more graceful.

basically the size of the wheel should let you know how much steering you get from the setups. nose wheels on our models tend to be about the same size as the mains and multiple times larger than the tail wheels. this is because they are much more load bearing. on a trike setup the mains and nose gear carry the load much more evenly than with a tail dragger. tail draggers load is mainly on the main gears. that's why they tend to nose over and while taxiing you should give full up elevator to increase steering effectiveness. to decrease the chances of nosing over and increase steering effectiveness, some people will bend their landing gear until they are well forward of the leading edge of the wing. yes... in that case, tail draggers are only slightly less difficult than trikes. but i think it looks silly.

fly a cub on a windy day where the winds are blowing across the runway and you'll know why trainers aren't taildraggers.

Thanks for the great replies guys. YEah i think im the only one at my field with a trike gear, except for another newcomer with his trainer.

I personally do not like to set up a new plane as a tricycle. One, your putting a lot of stress on the rudder servo (unless you put in a heavy duty servo) Remember that the nose wheel still turns in flight that increses drag. Two, unless your flying off pavement, the nose wheel takes a beating and you either have to bend it back into position (which weakens the firewall) or get it relainged to track straight. I disagree with better ground handling on tricycle gear - a tailwheel will turn in proportion with the rudder. Also the vast majority of planes after the trainer stage are taildraggers. I also believe that you will learn to make better landings with a taildragger (it teaches you to slow down (the art of the stall) and land on the mains). As for going over on the nose when taxing or landing - yes a taildragger is more prone to that, but I've seen plenty of tricycle gear that do the same thing when the nosegear hits a hole. Just hold up elevator when you are in a taxi mode. Plus a Stick looks better as a "dragger" IMHO

you have no idea how many times i nose over, and how many times, after a nice fast landing, everytime freagin time i turn, is "side" over.

Every aircraft I have a desire to build and fly is a taildragger (warbirds and scale aerobatic aircraft) so it just made sense for me to start out on a taildragger from the very beginning. I built my first LT40 as a trike, but converted it to tailwheel before it ever flew for the first time. Got ten flights on it and lost the wing on afternoon in high winds. I built another one and didnt even use the trike gear parts, built it straight out of the box as a taildragger. Flying a taildragger will force you to learn to use the rudder more than on a tricycle gear plane. It will just make you a better pilot in my opinion.

fore stroke,
My friends flew there cub yesterday and man did the wind get it. It was a bit under powered, but there flying skills proved good enough to get a lap around to set it on the ground.

Chad - that's the way a cub should be, a little underpowered, or rather just enough power to fly safely. i saw someone in taiwan running a cub with a two stroke and a tuned pipe. i still can't figure out what he was thinking!

Sticks are the easiest tail draggers to takeoff, fly and land. Go with the tail dragger setup.