>>1718665Internal gears and brakes are significantly less maintenance, especially on a shitbike.
Compare that to something that has, from the start, been designed for low maintenance and long life. Consider that gazelles came out of the box with rod brakes, all the accessories you mentioned, plus integrated lock, chain guard, etc etc etc... in a quality frame designed for durability.
I think that's quite different to buying a random aliexpress bike and adding random mods to sort of approach that ideal.