Anybody I have convinced to go for a 2 stroke would never go back to a 4 stroke. I have no fear if I sell a 2 stroke but with every Briggs that I sell, I always live in fear of a blown motor, but that is the way it is with Briggs. You never see a Victa with a leg out of bed, it is always a Briggs
Briggs engines are, and always have been after they abandoned their cast iron models, made with low selling price as the primary design criterion. That is, pretty much as 'discard rather than repair' products.
And other manufacturers have had to 'design down' to be competitive, even in a slightly higher market niche.
I would instance Honda, for one. Until the 1970's, their horizontal shaft [they didn't make verticals, at that point] G series engines all had steel conrods, with needle roller big ends, ball main bearings, and a pressed-up steel crankshaft. And cast iron cylinder liner, too.
