You'll get more juice with a shifter than with higher rpm. I run 40mph+ at 6500 rpm using a piston port Shandong Huasheng Zhongtian 49CC. 1.5 hp
A GP460R piston ported motor is good for 4.5 horse power in stock form @ around 11000 rpm. Peak torque at 8400 rpm. That with my shifter setup would approach 60 mph.
We're talking China Doll engines here, any of us can get more by switching brands and/ or adding gears... The fun part here is the challenge to push the China Doll to it's limits, then see what we can do to keep them alive at those limits. I also got a Morini sitting on the shelf at my shop just waiting on the right project too, but that's too easy... bolt on speed pretty much.
Don't get me wrong... a KTM with gears is a LOT of fun and can go Really fast, but it's a lot more fun making a China Girl scream with only one speed, then make it fast as all get out and be able to take off from a dead stop without pedal assistance.
I found the rpm/speed calculator in another post and mine needs 8650 rpm to do 38 mph with a 44 tooth rear sprocket and 26" rear wheel, It also accelerates from a dead stop on it's own power and gets up to speed fairly quickly. It's been ported extensively with lots of attention to my dial indicator and degree wheels to set each port's timing exactly where I want it to be.
I did set the timing a bit higher than recommended but accompanied by the pipe I made for it (modified KTM 50, re routed and extended the expansion chamber by 4") I didn't lose anything on the bottom end but gained a lot up top.
I'll post the link to that thread in here for those who already know their speed and want to calculate rpm, or know rpm but want to calculate speed etc...
Of course, now that I got an engine that performs I may add a jackshaft to get more acceleration and speed, or I got a nice little CVT that I may add to the mix... but that's the fun part... After the engine is built and ya know it can perform without the "crutches" of gears, then ya add them in.