> I think Fichtel & Sachs first came up with this idea [two gear internal hubs - CRC] in the 1970s

Not sure, but it feels older than that to me: ISTR riding bikes in the 1970s (and later) that had them, and those bikes felt far from brand-new. Could be misremembering, of course; it was long ago.

> nice to see that SRAM is picking it up again.

Don't they own Fichtel & Sachs nowadays? (Could be misremembering on that too, though.) That could, at least in part, explain why it's precisely SRAM that are doing it now.