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I guess to each his own.
As far as dirt bikes things are totally different from street bikes.
And city bikes are different from highway bikes.
Most of my riding is on highways, and I use a highway as a reference, as you won't ride faster than that (if you don't want a ticket).
You can always have a bigger bike with more power, or a smaller bike with more MPG, but finding that balance is key to finding the right bike for you.
The Honda Rebel's top speed is 83MPH.
That doesn't mean you can always get those speeds.
That's only after it being warmed up and full throttle for like a mile or two; no wind.
With a tail wind I actually was able to make it go 90+ tucked down; but I was dependent on the wind direction.
Yet one day I had a headwind of a mere 10-15MPH, and my top speed slowed down to a mere 66MPH.
And that's without hills.
I'm not talking about mods here; just stock bikes.
For that reason I say that a Honda Rebel 250's top speed is guaranteed at 60MPH.
60MPH is also the speed the bike cruises at most easily.
2 up, it'll be able to reach up to 75MPH. In fact, most of the time I do 75-80MPH by myself, but it's not a speed at which I feel comfortable running the bike at.
The CBR250R is the same.
It's top speed is around 95MPH; tucked in, no mods.
Sitting upright, and it'll slow down to 80MPH (especially with a tall guy like me on it).
Being able to do 80MPH, when sitting upright, doesn't mean that 80MPH is guaranteed.
A little headwind, and those CBRs lose speed quickly, despite being sports bikes.
My CBR300R does 107MPH tops, regardless of mods or not.
That engine just doesn't do any better.
Sitting upright, it goes about 85-90MPH; but I feel that bike is really made for 60-80MPH riding. Anything faster than 80MPH just isn't guaranteed, and depending on the weather.
Honda's bikes from the factory are pretty well tuned, and often only need +1t front, and/or -3tooth on the rear, to gain top speed in their power band.
Usually 5-10MPH extra.
But on almost every bike I rode, the following formula holds true for me:
example:
If the bike's top speed (tucked, optimized) is 100MPH,
then it's useable speed would be 80MPH.
Meaning, you will want to use it with 20% power in reserve; just in case.
With 2, it'll slow down to 70-75MPH.
And you really want to use this bike at a range of 45-70MPH; which is where the bike performs well with little to no sweat.
I mean, you always will want to keep the tach low.
Cruising at 2,5-3,5k RPM is so much more enjoyable, than doing the same at 8k RPM.
I think a lot of people like to ride bikes either using very little of the available power, mostly cruisers, or,
Riding them very hard, at about 80% of the available power, usually track days.
But few to nobody I know likes to ride a bike at wide open throttle!
As with the Rebel 250, I rode it 80-90% of the time with the throttle wide open.
A CBR300R, I rode it 10-20% with throttle wide open.
If you want best MPG, you don't want a bike that you ever have to open the throttle fully with. Which is why a 400cc is the sweet spot between sufficient MPG and power handling.
If you live in hilly areas, you might need a 500cc to get the same performance as a 400cc but then uphill.
And on the tracks, you might want a 650cc, depending on the tracks.
Even with a hi-rev 650cc sportsbike, will you ever hit top speeds on the tracks.
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