The planetary gear train are applied in multi-speed drive hubs for bicycles. Since a multi-speed drive hub has the advantages of the small volume and stable gear shifting, it is used widely in folding bicycles and electric bicycles. The distributed-flow-type multi-speed hubs could provide more gears, the related design theory is not well development. Thus, the purpose of this research is to develop a systematical methodology for the design of the distributed-flow-type multi-speed hub for bicycles. First, an existing patent is analyzed to identify the basic characteristics and the requirements of the multi-speed hubs. Based on the basic characteristics and the requirements, a systematical procedure is proposed to synthesize the feasible concepts of the planetary gear trains. Second, another procedure is proposed to determine the feasible clutching sequence tables. Third, the difference in value of the angular velocity is assigned to calculate the gear ratio and to determine the numbers of the teeth of all gears. Finally, the shifting-gear system in the multi-speed drive hubs is designed and arranged. The evaluation of the multi-speed drive hubs is proceeded to select the better alternatives. The result of this work obtains twenty-senven types of the distributed-flow multi-speed hubs for bicycles, three of them could reach sixteen speeds.