Craptacular8, I used a 2.8 for many years and about 15K miles as my distance bike. It too was originally a R400 ('96) that I bought just to have the Black Gold paint...weak reason, eh?
The aluminum fork wasn't uncomfortable whatsoever. I ran 23 mm tires at ~100 PSI rather than max rating of 120 PSI. The bike could fit 25 mm tires, which is what I now use on a basically identical CAAD3 frame. Because they're hand made, some may only fit a 23 mm due to the brake bridge. Even if there is enough clearance there for a 28 mm tire, or with the rear brake mounted on the front of the brake bridge, the FD clamp may interfere with the larger tire.
As noted, air pressure and to a lessor extent the tire's thread count, contribute to ride quality. I like to run the Conti GP4000 tires, but on another build in the works I'm going to try the re released Conti GPs. A good fit is essental also, as it is for any bike.
Brad