Why do I want more gears? So I don't spin like a demented monkey when going faster than the crawl you seem to like. So I can handle all terrain. All weather. All company except Lance Armstrong.

Please go ahead and have only 1 gear. I used to commute on a singlespeed for about a year or more. I enjoyed the simplicity and imagined that I would have no maintenance. That was a pipe dream. Even the idea of less maintenance was a dream. Complexity in gearing does not equate more maintenance in my experience. Cycling conditions dominate - dry weather, low wear. Wet weather, extreme wear.