Bike with 650c wheels and or hub gear - terrible idea?

daniel_b

Evening all,

I'm considering a purchase next year on the cycle to work scheme, to tow a smallish childs bike for weekend rides, as well as daily to school, take a rack and panniers, and get me to and from work as well.
It would also need to accept a followmetandem attachment.

I have seen two bikes that grabbed my attention, but both are unfortunately fitted with 650B wheels - wasn't sure what the difference between that and 650C is, but will google it shortly.
One has an 8 speed Nexus hub gear - which I assume is great for lack of maintenance, but what are the complications if you need to change a tube\tyre, and how easy are they to adjust gears or change the chain for example?

Obvious issues I can see is that it would need dedicated inner tubes, might not accept the follow me tandem, and will have presumably quite limited tyre options available.

I also blithely thought that I could simply pop a set of 700c wheels on, except I can't for the hub gear bike, because of course that is where the gears live!

So is it a REALLY bad idea, should i shelve it immediately?