A dozen or so years ago, I had a custom steel frame road bike built - as a 1xN = the "perfect" bike for my needs.
Before doing so, I kept careful track of the bike gear inch combinations I used the most.
Turned out 36, 48 and 64 were what I used most often. Almost never anything above 80 and some times around 30.
So I had my N speeds built with about 28 the lowest and just over 80, highest approx 3.2x total range.
Turns out 36, 48 and 64 are almost identical to the three ratios of a 3 speed IGH.
Recently, I too have been thinking about a lightweight frame for a 3 speed hub, leaning toward Ti however.
A work in progress...... have one of those decade birthdays coming up soon - might splurge then ?