I am running a 50/34 which is how I calculated the gear ratios I posted. Its not just going lower, the diff. between the 27 and 28 isn't that big, its also going higher, the diff between 11 and 12 does seem to buy a lot on the high end (to compensate for 50 tooth front ring and 650c wheel), unless I ran the calculations wrong.

At this point I am used to HUGE gaps since I run an 11/34 mountain casette on a 700c rear wheel with a 50/34 in front. But I would effectively only be giving up my largest cog in terms of gear inches in the new set up with an 11/28. I hope having a ligher bike will make up for the lost low gear..........or that the bike will motivate me to get stronger, or some combination thereof, if that makes any sense. This bike is too pretty to junk up with a mountain casette.

And yes, I like the color and specs (durace) on the 2008 more than on the 2009. The frame is the same but the 09 was downgraded to ultegra.