well, i personally have never used the Rohloff hub, but being in Germany where they are made, i have seen quite a few. EVERYONE who i have talked to who has one has been 100% satisfied.

i have been considering going Rohloff on my next bike, but my current 4 are not in need of replacement. since i replace my front rings/crank and cassette about once a year on my MTB i think even if the Rohloff only lasted 3 years i might come out even in cost...

but not considering cost issues i would agree that the only real consideration is repair. in car terms it's like going from a manual to an automatic transmission. with some basic equipment you (read me) can replace the clutch or flywheel or whatever, but if the automatic transmission goes then uh, oh, gotta go to a "real" service guy...

BUT, especially if you bought it new for a round-the-world trip i would be extremely surprized if you had any problems in the first year AND i am pretty sure that if you did Rohloff would help you out --- i have heard their service/support is great so i would imagine if you called them and explained you had bought one less than a year prior and were on a round-the-world trip, they would maybe send you a new one on the spot...

and the things are supposed to be bomb-proof --- they are getting VERY popular for off-road mountain biking and particularly downhill where a big front chainring or multiple front rings and chain-slap can all be inhibitors to downhilling - and the wear/abuse from touring should be far less in comparision to muddy-dirty off-road downhilling.

----> if i were building up a new bike in that price range i would definitely go Rohloff. if anyone wants to donate one to me i'll test it for a few months and then report back

as to Phatman's question about the front deraileur: i'm sure you can do it, but as someone else said, you just don't need it as the range is already comparable to a 3x8 geared bike -- and with evenly spaced gears ---- maybe the only reason to do it would be to use the same bike for heavily loaded touring and high-speed road-riding where you need way MORE than the regular range of a 24-27 sp bike.