As a former USCF racer, and the owner of a now-36 tooth rear sprocket, I have to take exception to the statement that only horsepower makers a difference, not gears.
Gears really do make quite a difference given the same power moving them, but also the weight of the bike and the rider, and the rolling resistence of the tires, too.
When I switched this summer from the 44 to the 36, I was pleasantly surprised that the accelleration hadn't fallen off that much pushing the bigger gear (smaller rear sprocket)-
I'm close to 200 and the bike is a cruiser, so pretty typical here- now if I start from completely stopped, it helps to give just a small pedal assist at the very first, but the motor takes over quickly, even with the 36- Acceleration from just a few mph up is still quite good.
On the other hand, the top end, and especially the functional cruising speed are much improved, with the motor running the same otherwise- I haven't clocked it and I don;t have a speedo, but I'm guessing I'm topping out at around 40 wide open and maybe a good steady of close to 30 or more- and mostly judging from 14 seasons of road racing.
It's pretty much as fast as I really want to go, especially at 55 years of age (and I'm the real dude at 60 mph behind the truck in "Breaking Away"- please don't try this at home!)
A lot of difference was noticible when I switched from 2.25 cruiser tires (VERY heavy, and knobby) to smoother 1.75 tires- They rolled so much better I started thinking maybe I should just put 700 C wheels and 1 inch wide tires on the cruiser- 700C would fit, but I'd have to get road brakes too- 27" is too large.
Alas, since I've also been building up a Schwinn World Traveler 12 speed with a light frame and 27" wheels, and BMX bars. I'll probably just stay with the cruiser wheels on my hauler- like I said it's about as fast as I want to go otherwise-
The schwinn will probably get flip/flop track wheels, and I can bolt a sprocket right to high flanges and eliminate all kinds of weight-
and a 49cc slant head, also for weight reduction- I might get even a 32 sprocket, or I have a really light 34 if i can get it machined and drilled a bit
Anyway, I'm hoping to keep the whole thing as light as possible- 35-40 lbs tops-
and with narrow 700 C wheels I think it'll roll fast without straining the motor.
If I were buying a new bike to put a motor on, I think I'd start with a track bike with flip/flop wheels and brakes- they are selling for about $230 on e-bay- A really light and minimal frame, and flip/flop wheelsets are over 100 bucks anyway. But this Schwinn only cost me $5, before the custom parts.
Gears make a lot of difference though- miss a shift at the wrong time racing and you can be off the back or out of the sprint.