wellslake, welcome to BikeForums!

we Swifties would be most interested to hear why you prefer to Xootr to the Tikit. my understanding is that the Tikit was Bike Friday's response to the Swift (8-speed for $800), so I am curious to hear if you think they didn't pull it off.

re: gearing, I agree with you that the gearing is not that high. A couple of possibilities:
* get a bigger front chainring. some on this thread have gone up a few teeth and can provide suggestions. you don't need a front derailleur to get a bigger chainring, though I suppose that is a way to do it without replacing the crank.
* do waht i did, which was to go with a Shimano "Capreo" 9-speed cassette that has a teensy 9-tooth small cog. thing is, if you do that then you also need the Capreo hub in your wheel.

I love the idea of going with an IGH. among other things, that will make the bike easier to fold and pack. but you will pretty much have to re build your rear wheel to do that.

good luck!!