Stik,
You'll be pleased to hear I missed my usual WW slap-up lunch today - was having trouble fitting into the EAC overalls...
The decision to do the tail-wheel conversion in the S2 was on the advice of Uncle - I was all all fired up to do some time in the Cub beforehand, but he was of the opinion it wouldn't help that much. For the record, we did 6.4 hours dual before he let me loose in the S1 - and as you've noticed, I have two left feet and hand-eye co-ordination on a par with David Blunkett, and hence as far from being a natural as it's possible to get.
As you say, every Pitts is different, and we're lucky that MAXG doesn't have the rather more lively ground handling of some other S1s (famous last words though - given that LG reshaped the lower-left aileron at Elvington, SH did the lower right as you remember at Conington, doubtless it will be muggins who manages to scrape one of the upper ones down the runway at some stage
).
However, right at the start I was lucky in that Alan, Tim J and the rest of the crew were very emphatic that I put aside all of the horror stories and bar-room (and internet forum) mystique around the Pitts and just crack on with it. If the purpose of the exercise, as defined in the original post, is not simply to undertake a tailwheel conversion but specifically to compete in a Pitts, then all I can say is that skipping the Cub time worked for me....so far.
Cheers,
Ed