On Friday, April 3, 2015 at 8:02:11 AM UTC-5, Dave Walsh wrote:
I think it says more about the technical competence of the
engine designers; maybe God doesn't like them either?


Well, crankshafts don't like to be loaded at their output location other than along the axis of rotation. Put a belt reduction drive on there, and you are applying load perpendicular to that. Interesting dynamics happen with a two cylinder in-line engine with this setup. It is not an easy system to design.

Steve Leonard