Went and road the Gotham today at REI. It's definitely a nice bike (you could load a ton of stuff on it with it's lengthy wheelbase) but it's definitely far too upright for me. It's often quite windy here and I'd have no protection from the wind whatsoever. I like the CVT. It was interesting for sure. The bike was also heavy, probably due to both the IGH and lengthy geometry overall. Unfortunately the tech at REI was incompetent as he had the crank hitting the kickstand. Do they even ride those bikes when they put them together? Did he even spin the pedals when he checked on it before I rode it? Who knows. (I wanted to break out my multitool and fix it since it was annoying me on my ride around the block.)

I hadn't thought about that. I think when I've been saying "drum" brakes I've been meaning the brakes that are external to the main part of the hub (like the brakes that attach to the nexus.) Do they have similar brakes that'd attach to a dynamo? Those wouldn't seem like they'd add a ton of weight. Maybe it'd be smart to do drum in the back and disk up front. In all honesty, my daily commute is really flat, and I don't often stop and start. However, riding around town I do both (stop and start and go up and down hills.) I surely don't want a tank of a bike. I ride with panniers so I'm not inherently opposed to weight though. I guess I've never really compared a light and heavy bike. My "heavy bike" is my winter commuter which I expect to go much slower on. (It's also an old upright MTB.)

Oh and @kickstart... Beautiful bikes. Very beautiful.