Briggs & Stratton 5 HP OB Questions/Etc..

[49hiawatha]

The motorized outboard on a bicycle AOMCI thread caused me to investigate and now enquire. I had some old bicycle collecting buddies(had different motorizd types) and grew up with Indian Motocycles and Columbia Bicycles (MA).Yes I know Tom. Anyway discovered the 1908 Briggs & Strattons(Milwaukee, WI). were hung on bicycles after 1914.and also had an enginered/wheeled version as well. Briggs worked with Ole Evinrude in 1935, not sure of details. Briggs left Briggs in 1948 to head OMC.

Now I saw the B&S outboards @ Mills Fleet Farms back in 2008 (Midwest) and considered them but already had my Gamefishers, later switched to my older 48-50 1.5 HP Hiawathas.

Questions..when did they stop making the B&S outboards? Why? Marketing? Poor sales? Mechanical issues? Service ? Anybody have any now? Buy or not?
Thanks.

[49hiawatha]

Well after over 100 reviews no one answered any of my questions…so..do it yourself I guess. Followed two important (to me threads) 1)The motor and 2)the Briggs connection to OMC.
1) Went to youtube and found several B&S outboard listings.
a. Jeff’s Little Engine Repair (Canada) called the motor a piece of fecal matter. . He discovered the problem was not the engine but it needs to have absolute air tight fuel connections on BOTH ends to the engine fuel pump/carb. Ran like a champ but he did not like outboards and still thought it was"fecal. " 2016
B. Another one called cruizin with a camo covered engine pushing a jon boat based on the movement was decent to my eyes.
C. Third one was a southern boy who thought it was underpowered and was going to dump it.2015.
Based on the running video if you want decent transportation not planning/speed..why not? Cheap.

#2 Briggs will put on Dock Chat.

[wbeaton]

I don’t know much about the Briggs motors. They quit making them a while ago. I’d guess they left the market 8 years ago. The 5hp Briggs was quite cheap. They sold for $795 CDN when I first became aware of them somewhere around 2002. They made some mechanical changes over the years, but my understanding is that they were about as good as you expect from a lawnmower motor mounted on an outboard midsection. I believe the early ones had some issues that might have been related to overheating. I once looked at one in the store and it looked cheap and disposable. Of course, they were priced well under comparable outboards so the poor quality seemed reasonable. Like any motor, they have their fans and detractors.

I think the real shame is that Briggs’ 3 hp electric outboard never took off. I hoped that one would be successful. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. It needed a bank of four (if I remember correctly) group 31 deep cycle batteries to operate, which made it suitable only for sailboats and other limited use applications.

Wayne
Upper Canada Chapter

uccaomci.com

[frankr]

A search for "Briggs" on i-boats.com forum, "Other outboard Brands" sub forum brings up 200 posts. I didn’t bother to read all of them.

[49hiawatha]

Thanks guys (wheaton …FrankR) off to i-boats.:)

[amuller]

Opinion:

After many decades of being an engine manufacturer, Briggs has been struggling because small engine manufacturing has basically moved to Asia. So they have been integrating into engine applications, such as mowers, snow blowers, etc. Some of these ventures have worked out and some not. The outboard was home grown, but ultimately didn’t work out.

Opinions seem to vary on the motors themselves, but anyone used to a water cooled motor 2 cylinder motor would, I think, be bothered by the noise and vibration levels.

Note that Tecumseh, their main competitor is now gone, for all practical purposes.

[garry-in-michigan]

Need I remind you that the Johnson brother’s first mass produced engine was for a bicycle. Put out of business by the cheap Model "T" Ford.

With the new super container ships it now costs more to ship goods across the US than it does to ship from China to California. Walmart has a fleet of these.

Cheap – Dependable – Long lasting – pick any two. Cracked coils proved a non-running outboard lasts a long time.
If properly stored. . . 😆

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