Originally Posted by
tjspiel
For commuting I use a derailleur bike most of the year and an IGH equipped bike for winter. I wouldn't want to the use the IGH for summer group rides but for commuting it works well.
From a maintenance standpoint, an IGH is probably better if you ride in crappy weather a lot, otherwise I'm not sure it really is. They do require some periodic maintenance.
I also live in Minneapolis, own an IGH bike and have the same opinion - for winter riding, where the bike gets a lot of snow/water/winter road sludge/salt/etc kicked up onto it, and IGH is worthwhile.
For summer riding, where the worst your derailler gets is rain, I don't see a maintenance advantage. You still have a chain, and that's where most of the maintenance is. I don't think I've ever actually replaced a derailler. I own both an IGH bike for winter riding, and 2 road bikes for summer, and the second I bought because I expected to use the IGH bike for summer commuting but I found that I just preferred a regular derailler - more gears, weighs a little less, feels a little faster.
I do find changing a flat to be more work on the IGH, but it would be more accurate to say that it's more difficult mostly just because it's less familiar.
The OP mentioned the Jamis Commuter 3 - it looks like a good bike if they're going to go with an IGH. Chainguard, rack, fenders - it looks like a good choice to me.