Again as I said and as others also commented, there are Italian made engines which works OK and then Italian made engines which kills bearings, has leaking carbs, flame out w/o particular reason etc. but hey they are Made In Italy high end engines so they must be good ??
You are referring to the price as a reference for good materials vs. bad materials. OK but then with the same analogy you should throw all the low end novas to trash bin as they can't be worth a penny. Why ?? Because how can you make something in western country (labor cost atleast 10x vs. China/Tawan) and from high quality materials (more expensive as the ones the Taiwanese guys use) and still you sell them for 140US. Something here does not work.
Regarding RB and K9 it will be interesting to see how it will eventually turn out. RB has a reputation of being a good quality engine and I doubt they would take risks on trashing that image. So I'd assume they have done their homework and found the quality to be enough.
To me it's obvious that the price tag of a racing engine will go to 200USD mark +/-10USD. There are plenty of examples on the market already and then for these traditional brands it's just down to a question if they can maintain any edge over these cheaper ones and justify the higher price tag. Sofar there has been some but say by the end of 2010 things might look different.
Originally Posted by
houston
Oh boy
Taiwan = cheap that's all there is to it
They can copy the good stuff but it really isn't ever as good or better . They have made some some affordabilty differences for sure but I don't believe they have made quality improvements over what they have copied.
There is only one original
And yes RB has switched to taiwan , does that mean they have upgraded?
And yes there are big differences in the metals used and in the processes used when making these engines between the two .
I am in no way saying that taiwan engines are crap guys as there a few good ones out there that rival the original italian made mills for sure .