I wonder how many here talking about this stuff have actually tooled around on a FFwheel bike. I have a Schwinn World Tourist with it, and actually like it a lot for urban riding. I did lose the positron and put some nicer wheels on it, and it has the nicer three piece crank.
The reasons I like it are the chain guard, so no pants clips, and unless I go to satin bell bottoms or something its probably never going to catch the pant leg. The shifting feels ponderous compared to my road bikes, but its a smooth transition and is very stop and go friendly. Since I take the bike with me to city's I dont live in, and am doing the tourist thing where I want gearing but do not want to think about it at all, its nice. It helps that the bike itself is actually a very nice solid ride.
For comparison, most of my road bikes are eight to nine speed shifted with down tube or bar end friction.

My only problem with it is the relative non-serviceability. Took another one apart for exploratory practice, and decided to just dribble oil into the mech every now and again.