I own a bike and a car. I’ve wondered this for some time, when I am doing 120km/h the car gets around 3k revs and the bike easily 6k.
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It’s how they squeeze the horsepower into a smaller engine. More bangs per rev means more power per rev (ish)
However making a motor that revs higher for a reasonable price involves making tradeoffs. The main one is using shorter and wider pistons than you would normally use on a car. That makes them easier to run at higher RPM. Since the piston head is travelling a shorter distance up and down it’s linear velocity and acceleration end up lower.
It is however less fuel efficient, offset by being on a really lightweight bike, and the high RPMs tend to mean shorter engine life and more frequent maintenance per mile, offset by people not driving bikes nearly the same amount of miles they do cars (usually).
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