Do some reading on internally geared hubs.

The Rohloff is an amazingly overpriced piece of machinery. People who use them swear by them. A quick check of MTBR.com indicates REALLY high ratings from almost every reviewer (highly unusual for any product). They're REALLY expensive. Like $1400 retail expensive. That's about $100 per gear. The life expectancy on one of those babies is probably longer than that of your frame. People put many thousands of miles on them. According to the reviews I just read the hub takes 6 months or so to break in (as opposed to wearing out in 6 months like lots of MTB parts) which sounds like a pretty good thing to me.


If you ever look at a picture of the inside, you'll understand the cost.


http://www.rohloffusa.com/frame.htm

click the Products link and then the speedhub link. There's a picture of the inside right at the top.