Originally Posted by Gustav
I'm curious why you didn't just try swapping your 11-23 for a Campy 12-27 cassette. It would've given you about the same low gear, I think, and youd've kept a 53-12 for your high end -- at a much lower cost.
From a personal point I wanted slightly shorter cranks.
From a technical point the 11-23 is a tighter gear ratio than a 12-27, I would say that both accomplishes pretty much the same thing looking at the high and low end.
Actually if you get aluminum compact cranks you may come close to the cost of replacing your cassette.