About the nexus-7 hub

One of the things I like most is the 7 gear hub from Shimano. It switches instantly, even with the bicycle completely stopped. In urban traffic it allows you to always have the best gear, which ofter results in instant acceleration power when you most need it. For example, no problem if you have to break suddenly at an intersection and then speed-up again: just switch gears at any time and pedal. As gear switching is so fast and convenient, I tend to switch gear much more often than with a derailleur bike.
The spacing between gears is very adequate. For my particular daily journey I would like to have a slightly larger gear ratio, which can be achieved with the newer Shimano-8 hub.
Speeds 1 and 3 are quite "grinding". Although it has improved with usage, it is an area of improvement for this model of gear hub.

My new dutch bike

This is the Azor Oklahoma bike I bought on June 06. I'm quite happy with it, particulary because of its radical upright driving position. It is absolutely comfortable and gives you a lot of visibility at the same time.
I also like the shimano nexus-7 gear hub, whose instantaneous switching is ideal for commuting. It is also a studry bike; I carry my 2 1/2 years old son who weights around 15Kg and I can harldy notice him.
This is not precisely a versatile bike-but I knew when I bought it. It is very good for pleasant, not-so-fast city journeys.