I read about the San Jos8 that Sheldon built and built my own version using a Fuji Royale frame. Later I swapped the setup over to a Schwinn Premis because the geometry of the frame was better for me. It's a Nexus 8 Red Band. I've ridden Imperial and Metric centuries with it. No complaints at all. I know a couple who built a recumbent with something like 81 speeds - a triple up front, a 3 speed IGH, and a 9 speed cassette. Here's a post with a couple of pictures I did back in 2006 when I was building it: http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...e-project.html