Newbie driver here, why do the rpms need to be higher when in low gear? Since its a lower gear shouldnt the rpms be low as well?

Question

My brain cant seem to grasp the concept behind this sorry

In: 0

Answer 1

They don’t need to be higher unless you want to go the same speed in a gear lower as before. The “gear” is just the ratio of your engine’s shaft spinning rate versus your wheel spinning rate. The higher the gear, the closer they are to 1:1, the lower the gear, the more force the engine can exert for a given RPM in exchange for speed.