>>1303598internal gears and belt drives have the advantage of being super low maintenance. so if you put a lot of miles in you can still go a pretty long time between tune ups.
they don't give the same range of gearing as geared bikes do. and if you want to ride for longer than about an hour, you will want drop bars because they allow multiple hand positions.
I would recommend a salsa journeyman 650 to you. Get the drop bar version. This bike has wide tires and good gear ratios for just about any kind of on or off road cycling. and it accepts 700c wheels so you could get a second wheelset with 700x28s for cruising with your roadie friends.
