So I have this frame with 126mm rear dropouts...

I still have the road bike my parents bought for me when I was in 8th or 9th grade. It's a Bianchi Forza, bright red and in great condition. I'm hoping to make it into a commuter bike. It's got downtube shifters and I'd love to convert it to brifters. I'd really love to put Campy brifters, as they're what I'm used to from my road bike, but right now the bike has Shimano components. It's a 7-speed and the frame has 126mm rear dropouts.

I know that Campy brifters won't work (or at least, won't work well) with a Shimano derailleur, and a Campy derailleur works best with a Campy cassette, on a Campy hub, etc., so if I really want to put Campy brifters on the bike there will be a lot to change. I looked for Campy 7-speed brifters but couldn't find anything online (did they even ever make these?) No luck finding 8-speed brifters either.

I've read (Sheldon Brown) that with Shimano, I can get a 9-speed cassette and drop one sprocket so that there are 8 and then I can use 9-speed brifters, and this way I don't have to change the frame spacing. Or I can have my LBS change the frame spacing to 130mm (if they'll even do it). I'd like to use the frame as-is (changing the spacing creeps me out). Is it possible to do the 8-of-9 thing with Campy? Could I even FIND a derailleur that would work with this? Are there other options to make this happen?

I really don't want to use Shimano brifters - I don't like how they feel. I'd consider SRAM, but they don't seem to have anything less than 10-speed...

Does your rear hub take a freewheel or cassette? The majority of 126 mm spaced hubs took freewheels, which means you can't put a cassette of any size on it. Check this first. If it's a freewheel, your only options for a cassette with indexed shifting would be to respace the rear triangle and buy a new rear hub/wheel.

Thanks for making me think about that. It's a cassette - my LBS checked yesterday. Your post made me question my measurement. I was up pretty late last night.... This morning I took the wheel off and measured again and it's 130mm. Last night in my tired stupor I didn't bother to take the wheel off and do it properly! So no issues there.

Now I just need to decide SRAM or Campy...

Campy. Sram won't officially be cool for another 10 years or so.

Campy and Shimano can work just fine together with a Jtek Shiftmate.

http://jtekengineering.com/shiftmate.htm

I, too, prefer Campy hoods and shifting, but sometimes need to gearing choices of Shimano.