I have the Shimano 8-speed w/ coaster brake on my rider. I use the simple twist grip shifter. I cannot recommend it highly enough. I'm kind of an old guy, but still, with this hub it takes a pretty formidable hill to get me out of the saddle. Downhill, it's as fast as I need to go. Someone stronger than I could easily use the smaller (faster) gear that comes with the hub. But, yes, it's an expensive hub ($200+), and it's expensive to have wheels built from scratch. You can find whole used bikes with three speeds for less money. Depends on how much you want to spend. Go to Amazon if you want a brand new hub. If you're patient you could follow a guide to lacing it yourself, and then have it trued up at a bike shop, but it's still expensive. I'm mostly a do-it-yourself kind of guy- (we all are, or we wouldn't be here) nonetheless, there are some jobs I turn over to a pro. All in all, I tend to look at it this way- sometimes it hurts your short term budget to go first cabin on a project. But once the money is spent and the project is done, you never regret having top quality components in your machine. You'll never say to yourself "I wish I would have spent less money, and built a cheaper crummier bike."
JWM