Yup. Though I admit when I biked Amherst for many years I used just two gears, and my morning commute was all the way up the hill on Main Street and Triangle from South East Street to Umass. I don't remember being nearly-singlespeed as very difficult, actually. I rode up thru Pelham to the Quabbin overlook, and once all the way to Hawley on those two gears. I'm relatively new to this shifting thing, so I've seen both sides.

On the internal hub, I saw some at a bike rental place once, and the owner was not very pleased with them. Apparently a big service hassle. That's second-hand info, though.