You've not come across hub gears on bikes before, have you? They were pretty much the standard before derailleur gears became popular, and modern ones can have up to 7 speeds.
I’ve ended up with some electronic road SRAM which is seriously quick in comparison (except for the slow rider), but do miss the smooth internal hub and the stationary gear changes.
Oh, nice, the state of the art has advanced since I last read about hub gears, which was ... oh dear, about twenty years ago? No wonder things have improved :)
