Hey guys. I'm working on a bike now as my only commuter and want to one day use it for light touring. Right now it's fixed, but I was thinking of perhaps building up another wheelset with something like a 7-or 8-speed internal gear and a dynamo hub. As much as I want a Shimano Nexus Red Band, it's simply too expensive for me, even used. I'm under a pretty tight budget at the moment.

For my application, should I get at least 7-speed or will something like the much cheaper SRAM P5 do? It has a decent range, but the gaps are pretty wide. I was also looking at the nicely priced Sturmey-Archer XRF8 but it does have a weird range - it might not be so bad with a 36/25 ratio but I would pretty much never be able to run it in direct drive. The Sprinter 7 looks better for my needs but I can't find it anywhere, which leads me to believe it was discontinued.

As for dynamo hubs, I guess the Sturmey-Archer X-FDD looks good because it's cheap, but I don't plan to run a drum brake, so can this feature be removed or at least ignored? Also, when it comes to blowing bulbs it's the light that matters, right? Not the generator?

Are new Sturmey-Archer products in general not very durable or reliable or easy to work with or smooth? If so, maybe I'll just shell out for a Shimano or SRAM 7-speed and a DH-3N70 hub.

Sorry, lotsa questions, but better than asking in several different topics, right?