Tourers buy them. Money well spent. Just change the oil every year. Less efficient than a clean deraileur drivetrain but those stay clean for about 30 minutes.
Even a muddy chain is unreasonably efficient, to the tune of maybe 85-90% [0].
Having bike toured, keeping a chain halfway clean (or at least not muddy) is not hard. Yes, I see the appeal of an internally geared hub, but marginal differences in efficiency either way would not be high on my list of concerns.
Having bike toured, keeping a chain halfway clean (or at least not muddy) is not hard. Yes, I see the appeal of an internally geared hub, but marginal differences in efficiency either way would not be high on my list of concerns.
[0] https://cyclingtips.com/2020/05/how-many-watts-does-a-dirty-...