The K&B Sportster engines use a unusual high silicon alloy in the cylinder/sleeve. But they chrome the piston instead. But barring abuse or inadequate oil lubrication the Sportster engines hold up really well. A big plus was that the cylinder and piston costs are quite reasonable too.

The Russians did produce model engines using a ceramic coating on the cylinder wall. Norvel used this as well as some engines that Fox Manufacturing produces too.


Now then the piston ring is the main limiting factor in getting more speed or RPMs out of a engine. Depending on the engine displacement and the ring thickness there is a RPM limit than when reached the ring begins to flutter and stop sealing properly. A variation was the Dykes rings that are much more thin and use the combustion pressures to help force the ring into the cylinder wall, thus they can get a moderate increase in RPMs using the Dykes rings. Years ago people noticed with the conventional lapped piston engines that they could get more RPMs than a ringed engine could. That lead to the development of ABC engines with a more tapered cylinder that was chromed and a special high silicon content piston that was carefully fitted to it. The more radical tapered bore of the cylinder expands when hot to become more straight, while the piston doesn't expand that much and maintains a more precision fit in the cylinder bore. Thus they got even more performance out of the ABC engine setup like that. Then CNC methods came along enabling more mass production to take over.

Generally the ABC engine will develop more power and turn higher RPMs than a ringed piston engine.
Generally a ringed piston engine will last longer than a ABC engine, but a ABC engine, that is well taken care of, can last about as long as a ringed engine can.
A ABC engine is more tolerant of a engine running too lean or overheating than a ringed engine. If a ABC engine overheats the cylinder expands more than the piston does and the piston to cylinder fit loosens up and the engine looses power before it can sieze or be galled.
A ringed piston engine tends to be much more forgiving of dirt or debris scratching the cylinder walls than a ABC engine and tends to produce its power for a longer time like that.
With CNC machining methods a ringed engine can be made with interchangeable cylinder sleeves and pistons. But a ABC engine requires the cylinder and piston to be carefully matched with each other.