Well, it turns out all of you who pointed out the specs for this bike are wrong were correct. I finally got to take the bike out of its box and do some calculations. I measured the distance travelled in one crank revolution in highest and lowest gear (and divided the results by 3.14). It turns out Sheldon Brown's calculator is spot on. The gear-inch range is 34-95, not 26-95 as published. This is very disappointing. Moreover, talking to a bike tech today, I discovered that changing to smaller chainrings in the front is not an option. Because of the way the front derailleur is mounted, it cannot be lowered. So, my only option would be to swap out the rear 11-25 cassette for a 12-27, a very slight improvement which would not get my low gear to where I want it.

I'm really sad about this, as I really love the bike. When I test rode it, it felt so much like my old full-size bike. It rides and shifts beautifully. I thought that because all the parts are standard, the gearing could be easily modified, and the salesman indicated that it would be, but now I know that's not the case. The bike is beautiful, and I think a great choice for normal riders, as opposed to riders like me who would rather downshift to maintain cadence than stand and plow through tough hills. A low gear-inch of 34 is probably just fine for most riders, especially those looking for a speed bike like this, but I'm not a strong rider. Even back when I bought my first full-size touring bike, I had the shop swap out cogs to lower the gears. Unless the salesman comes up with a suggestion I haven't thought of, I will be returning the bike. I think my best option now may be the Dahon Mu P24, which has a huge gear range, and from what I can tell, the lowest of the low gear-inches - substantially lower than the Formula. I'm open to any other suggestions.

Thanks for all your help and input.