I was thinking of the .28 that Losi puts in the 8ight-T, but since you mentioned the Big Red, I took another look at it and it appears to be the same engine as the SH you linked in your original post. The only obvious differences I can find between them are the color of the crankcase and the shape of the heatsink.

Novarossi dropped thier prices so they are actually cheaper than the tiawanese motors. Why buy an sh motor for 180 when you can get a novarossi for the same or cheaper?

Because pullstart.

The SH .28 is being advertised at $139.99 + free S&H from AMain.

Still though, $189 for a 28-8 from Novarossi isn't bad at all.

LEGEND28-8

I got my Legend 28-8RT for $170 plus shipping, but with a 15% off coupon. With a pair of manifolds, a 9886 tuned pipe, and a card of glow plugs, I was still under $250 shipped for the whole package. Can’t beat that for a ridiculously sick engine.

Those Novas can't still be made in Europe, not at that low price.

Made in Italy, baby.

With all the taxes inflicted on European companies, I'm amazed they could afford to make the engines in-house at that price. I wonder if they outsource production of some of the parts, and then finish the parts and assemble the engines in-house so they can still claim "Made in Italy".

It would not supprise me that a lot of parts are made in Asia. Novarossi had some bad years and electric is slowly taking over gas on all RC models. They have managed to lower their prices and I do not think it could be done w/o huge changes.

From the GRP engines in the past I know carburator parts, the head button and rear cover were done in Asia.

I wouldn't be surprised if all the parts are cast, forged, or rough-machined in Asia, and then finished in Italy. That way they can benefit from cheap labor without giving a foreign factory the exact specifications for the port shapes, crankshaft balance, and other critical features that make fancy engines perform well.

Degani ripping with one of these things at DNC

He's the only one.

He didn't have the power to make the jumps like others. Not a good look for SH.

He was earlier I thought, but definitely didn't look good later on.

Yeah, I dont think he had a power issue. I've personally seen him compete at a high level with a SH. I think he won SS with it and that had two gnarly jumps.