The steering on Big Red (in the above picture) originally had an adjustable steering head. The problem with it was it flexed, so it was discarded for the more traditional design. I was always told that center hub steering was more difficult to control and had less "feel". The Ack Attack is the only center hub design that I have driven, and I found it handled just fine and had the same "feel" as Big Red. If done correctly, there are many different ways to get the same results.
The size and shape of the tire also contributes to how it handles. We used to use a really narrow front tire on Tenacious II that had almost a flat profile. Because of this it was really easy to balance and required less input. But, once we started going faster, the downforce created at speed was too much for the tire choice we were using, and had to be replaced with a larger, more radiused design.
