as for the respacing issue, this is a new wheel, not a vintage replacement wheel. That means I shouldn't have to redish or respace the wheel correct? the nishiki was a 10 speed but i just bought a brand new 130mm freewheel and put the 7speed freewheel on and haven't had any issues.
As for the value of more speeds, she and I won't be doing any crazy amounts of riding together but I can think of a couple of routes we would take that might get a bit steep. Current 7speed freewheel is 14-34 with the big jump from 24-34. Personally i find the 28tooth cog quite useful so I'd love to be able to use a 13-32 8speed freewheel for her and give her back that 28 tooth gear.