yo
I owned a 7GCBC before I bought my PA-12. My PA-12 has a 150hp, flaps, 18 gear, 18 tail, borer prop, 29" gar aero's, etc. It's not an 18 but for comparison purposes in this conversation it's pretty close. Keep in mind I am not johnny bush pilot, but I do get to go out and do some fun off airport stuff.
These are some of the differences I remember:
1) The GCBC is a fast plane, even faster than the PA-12. It's fast all the time including short final, so I don't think it makes a very good short field aircraft.
2) The GCBC couldn't carry very much. Mine didn't have ext baggage or anything special. I climbed out once with a passenger, some winter gear, and full fuel and it didn't seem to want to fly, compared to the PA-12 that will fly with a much, much heavier load. I am very impressed with the PA-12's performance, even around 1900 lbs.
3) I remember doing different weight and balances on the GCBC and I was out of CG pretty quick. I don't remember specific examples, but we were stuck at a buddy's cabin once with nothing else to do
so we started doing w&b's and I remember it was an eye opener for me.
4) I liked the Citabria but it wasn't the right plane for the stuff I wanted to do, however, if 1 guy and some gear want to do airbatics and ~800' it's a cool plane. I had a 160hp that burned about 7 gal/hr.
My 2 cents...