The half-devil Shimano hub has a bad reputation, but I personally like the Shimano 3's. It'll be a good, solid bike for him. Free Spirits aren't known for their quality, but I had a 3 speed that was very good to me (and is still good to the girl that I sold it to - she was an ex student of mine, and we keep in contact). They're not high quality, they're not especially light, they're definitely not fast, but as dependable, fun to ride bikes? Certainly.