wheel building question...
 

I have 88 Schwinn Premis that I would like to eventually update driveline comps...

current RD is Suntour Cyclone 7000 as is FD...

hubs 32 spoke Maillard... freewheel with 6 cogs...

what possibilities do i have 8 cogs would be nice (I am a Clyde) will my RD do 8 cogs?

if so I can use Shimano 105 hubs if not what are my other options?

since I err on the light side of Clydes I am ot going to built 36 spoke wheels but 32 spoke deep Vs with beefy spokes...

thanks in advance

Most likely, the space between your rear dropouts is 126mm. This will put limitation on the what kind of new rear wheel you can use. Reading through these two web pages will give you your options.
http://sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/freewheels.html

i somehow felt kinda like this would get directed to sheldon...

thats cool... I felt better asking...

you can jam the wider hub in there easily. It's a steel frame so you can even cold set it to make it easier. The freehub will have greater bearing spacing too, so your axle will take the weight better. i'd still recommend 36holes on the rear. My favorite wheelset i built with chorus hubs 32hole front and 36hole rear on velocity aero rims. the rear is offset too so i have less dish problems. this will make you a very strong wheelset. you can reuse your front and just build a good rear for now. you can keep the FD, but if you want to index, you'll need a compatable RD as the suntour has a different shift ratio. you might get a shimano 9sp shifter to shift 8sp fairly well with it tho.

Deep-V's a pretty hefty. I've built several wheels with 36 spokes on Velocity "Aero" rims and they've held up fine. I'm 6-foot-4, around 215 pounds, and my ride of choice is a Easy Racer recumbent. Needless to say, I'm not easy on wheels.

Deep-V's, 32 spokes and 105 or Ultegra hubs will make some pretty nice wheels for you. The rear derailleur might work across 8 or 9 speeds in friction mode.

It really comes down to what your budget is for these upgrades. For the price of:

- Shimano 8-spd hubset
- Shimano 8-spd cogset
- Shimano rear-derailleur
- Shimano 8-spd shifters
- rims & spokes
- labour to build it all up
--------------------------
$500-600 total is my estimate

For that price, you can get a very darn nice used bike with 9/10-spd components already installed and it'll be less than 10-years old. A set of Deep-V wheels with 105 hubs can be had for around $200-300. Good choice on rims BTW, the aero profile makes a rim very stiff vertically and it minimizes the spoke-tension changes through the loaded section at the bottom; something that really helps clydes keep their wheels alive. :)