A pretty long and fancy exit. Suffice it to say I still don't feel at all convinced of any of these points, but I don't feel the need to address them in detail. Register, perhaps, a broad-ranging and generic objection. Passers by reading the thread can find lots of good discussion, while perhaps keeping in mind that a lot of it is coming from someone who doesn't own such a hub and really doesn't like them.

Honesty compels me to say I don't have much *recent* experience with internally geared hubs, although about 15 years ago I had a 3 speed I used hard, didn't maintain, and that never failed. I know a lot more now than I did then and even at this point I don't think choosing an 8 speed for the bike I'm building up now is a bad choice.

Had I seen all these comments *before* deciding to build up the bike, would I have changed my mind? No.