Another may be that if main gear is moved aft a more heftier
front NG would be needed. Keeping most of the load on main gear keeps
the cost down.

Dont know why cozy's, MK IV, etc. don't spread the main gear more.
The main RG on my SQ2000 is 11' apart with little chance of
throwing debris on the 66" prop.

----------------------------------------------------
Paul Lee, SQ2000 canard project: www.abri.com/sq2000

Russell Kent wrote in message ...
............................ "why don't the builders
move the main landing gear aft?" Two possible reasons: moving the
gear aft might make unsticking/rotation on takeoff a much too
exciting event (think uncontrolled stall on takeoff), and the main
gear has a tendency to throw up runway debris which we'd rather
not have pass through the propeller disk.

Russell Kent