Wanted: Reliable touring bike front+rear mech/shifters/wheels

ad441- if you're gears are working OK right now i'd not bother upgrading unless you want to go to indexed - in which case late 6 - but most likely 7 or 8 speed is in order. but unless you have shimano style braze-ons on the frame you'l have trouble fitting- it's very rare to find a band on that will take indexed downtube shifters. i'd start by looking for the shifters and then get the rest to suit whatever speed shifters you can get hold of. - bar end shifters are good alternative if you can get / afford them (they always seem to going for a lot)

Thanks - that's really helpful - unfortunately the gears aren't working well at the moment - it's a nice quality frame (531c), but the components are pretty horrible & despite a lot of adjustment I've concluded they weren't ever up to much.
However you've just pointed out something I hadn't even thought about - the shifters are band-on, so that complicates things further...
On the other hand, indexed shifting isn't essential I suppose, but maybe bar end shifters are a neater way of doing it.
I'm not against spending some money on it, as it's a nice frame and I got the whole thing for a bargain price.
Sorry this has turned into more of a mechanics thread than a classified... though I am still hoping someone will come along and sell me the whole lot in one go.