Looking at BFS reels on Tackle Warehouse, they almost all only offer gear ratios around 8:1, which all have around 28-32 ipt. Why is that? Do smaller moving baits not suffer from higher ipt?

The main reason, also the reason for so many compact frames, they're aimed at stream trout, where upstream and across casts may require fast retrieve.  Rod tip lift on these short rods also doesn't pick up a lot of line or gain a lot of lure speed.  In my hill country limestone creeks, Ambassadeur 1500CI gearing is fine for me.  

I'm also happy with Ambassadeur gearing in my river kayak niche.  

 

In my shore casting salt finesse niche (tide passes), I prefer low-geared reel for lure presentation, also larger diameter spool for improved distance.  This is 6.3-geared Steez w/ Roro-X spool, casting 2 g to 130' on 8' rod.  

Where I'm drift-fishing a salt kayak on windy flats with a 7' baitfinesse rod, higher 8.5-gear Silver Wolf works well for me.