no shame in a BD purchase buddy, actually its very frugal and smart.
I believe you can get spacers that will allow you to put a 7 speed cassette on a 8/9/10 speed hub. I have not tried this but I have used a wheels mfg conversion cassette (shimano to campy) before and it worked well. good luck
http://www.amazon.com/Wheels-Manufac.../dp/B001CJVLWO
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2010 Kestrel RT900SL, 800k carbon, chorus/record, speedplay, zonda
2000 litespeed Unicoi Ti, XTR,XT, Campy crank, time atac, carbon forks