That is actually quite deceiving. I had the hardest time convincing a shop owner to order bmx bikes with the compact gearing, he said the ring was so small the kids wouldnt be able to get anywhere and wasnt what the local kids wanted. While the front ring is smaller, so is the rear. Old BMX gearing used to be 44/16 or so, decent all around set up. Then street and park riders went down to about 36t up front and 12-14 out back for more ground clearance when riding aggressively and doing things that would damage the lager rings easier. Bikes got up to 35lbs or more! Then there was a movement to make the bmx bikes lighter, hard to do tricks and pedal around on a tank! One thing they did was eliminate the freewheel from the hub and started using small 9t drivers in combination with 25t chainrings up front, smaller ring is lighter, hub is lighter, and even the chain is as well due to not being nearly as long. The reason for going with that gearing was it is very similar in gear-inches to the older 36/14 and 44/16 setups, feels the same and you reach the same speeds when spinning out the cranks.
I am wondering how that gearing feels on the 26" wheel though. I have not run a single speed 26" with 25/9 yet.
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