Hi Steve,
Not sure if that was directed to anyone in particular, but I’ll bite. Although I’ll acknowledge up front that to a better cub guy, none of this might be worth while.
1) Height…. When I fly a cub on std or 3” gear, it is pretty common to come back with green prop tips (best case scenario) or peppered prop tips (bad) Lay the whip to your cub to get the tail up and turned around on the sand bars (where the river rock is mostly smooth and polished)and you cringe as your prop gets pelted. Do the same on a malpais flat where the rocks are sharp and angular, and you will cry as you pit it past the point of dressing. Your hard pressed to suck anything up with 6” extended gear rolling on 35’s. A better stick probably wouldn’t have this problem, but that’s not me…. lol!
2) Dabbing… I love being able to see exactly what both tires are doing at the same time. With my poor piloting skills, it is reasonably common for me to land on a malpais ridge top where the stones appeared to be cantaloupe sized, only to be flairing into what more realistically approaches the size of a round 26” goodyear. Being able to dab a tire exactly where I want it, and if energy still allows, lift the other up and over something is priceless… Yes I realize you can do this almost as easily on 31’s with std gear (specially if you carry a nick name like ‘lurch’ or ‘tiny’) but for me it’s just that much easier with the exaggerated stance.
3) What about that stance?… I have yet to land on a ridge that was level for very long. Flat? yes, level… not so much. I love the extra width when I need to turn around on something way off camber. Further more, when you are uneven ground, not the kind that rolls the whole airplane, but the kind that swallows one wheel at a time, all that extra width and height starts paying back in spades. Tussocks (the kind that old school Alaskans have a very politically incorrect word for) come to mind. Those rogue 26” goodyear rocks do the same.
4) The longer arm makes running a 1280/1380 bungee combo just perfect. The same on shorter gear works, but a witness tie wrap on the strut will show you may as well be running straight legged.
5) The added AOA. between the extra height and the extra AOA, you really add a good amount to the tail low approach. Take off (for me at least) is not any better, in fact it probably suffers a little, but not enough to offset the rest.
None of this means I don’t see/know where the sacrifices are. And there are plenty…
Take care, Rob