Citabria Ailerons

[Melndav]

Ok so I know there are Citabria/Decathlon groups, but this is the most knowledgeable aviation forum on the internet. I‘m sure some of you guys have lots of time in the ole Citabrick, so I figured I’d ask here. We have a nice 7GCAA that I fly a lot. It’s about 5 years out of a Bully Aero restoration, is rigged properly, and flies/stalls straight. We have the McMillan spar and spades that mount inboard and pickup to aileron actuator rod end. I’ve taught aerobatics in this airplane quite a bit and the ailerons are the pretty standard borderline “set in concrete” above 100mph which is what I’ve come to expect from the type.
Recently I’ve started teaching a very talented 15 yr old kid in his family‘s 7GCBC, and he’s done so well I have actually flown the airplane very little. Tonight I took it and flew it around a few minutes and, holy cow, the ailerons were unbelievably light (relatively speaking.) His airplane is a late 90’s ACA built with the factory metal spar and spades on the outboard end of the ailerons. I noticed his wing struts a a little fatter but, otherwise, I can’t see any obvious reason that a airplane with 3-4‘ more wing has such light forces. It’s not like a Decathlon, but when compared to the norm it seemed really light. Sure wish I could make ours feel the same way. Anybody know what’s up here?