Jody, I would think the Ryobi 26cc has a bit more power than a 1.20 glow 4stroke, but probably not by much. It does swing a big old prop though. Mine is still doing actual weed wacking duty, as I'm been patiently waiting for other parts of the weedwacker to die/break before setting the engine free.

Sport, you're certainly free to believe what you like, but the conrod bearings (particularly the lower end) do carry by far the largest load per bearing surface than any other bearing in the model engine. Without the forced lubrication (i.e. oil pumped under pressure directly onto bearing surfaces) in larger scale engine like automobiles, these small plain bearing rely largely on the excellent properties of the bronze material (often oil-impregnated) to retain a thin oil film under load. Needle bearings OTOH are much better at retaining splash lubrication and recoating the bearing surfaces.

You are correct, though, that there are other reasons for the difference in oil requirements between methanol and gasoline engine. Upper cylinder lubrication, which I mentioned in an earlier post, is another. However, conrod bearing is by far the dominant factor.

The big Super Tigres require only about 10-12% oil mostly because the load per bearing surface on the conrod is lower, so are the operating rpms vs. smaller glow engines. Convert them to needle bearing, though, and they can be safely operated at 4-5% oil content.