Complete Road Bike Newbie...

[Possegal]

Of course, I know my bike shop will fill me all in. I just thought I'd like to NOT be a complete no-mind when I get there!

Mine did not and boy did I have a devil of a time on my test ride. Road bikes had changed a good bit since my last one. Don't ever worry about sounding stupid. Odds are very good, at some point in time, I sounded worse.

[Owlie]

Thanks for clarifying what I said, nscrbug. My bike has Sora shifters, so they have the "thumb lever." I figured out how brifters work by examining my BF's bike, so while I can explain it to myself, I can't necessarily explain it to others!

[Juliegoddess]

Thank you everyone! Yes, I see how they work now! I think now it's going to be a matter of trying them out...and practicing. I am hoping I will be able to get shifters with "cheater number windows" so I can see what gear I'm in!

You ladies are awesome...thanks so much for letting a newbie post a "baby" question without feeling foolish!

[Kano]

Thank you everyone! Yes, I see how they work now! I think now it's going to be a matter of trying them out...and practicing. I am hoping I will be able to get shifters with "cheater number windows" so I can see what gear I'm in!

see which gear you're in: this made me laugh!

I don't have a way to see which gear I'm in, and I can make DH SOOOOOOOOOO upset when I get excited about a hill climb that I'm pretty sure I wasn't in granny gear for, so I stop, get off my bike, and he's convinced I'm having a mechanical -- I'm just looking to see which gear I'm in!

Karen in Boise

[Juliegoddess]

see which gear you're in: this made me laugh!

I don't have a way to see which gear I'm in, and I can make DH SOOOOOOOOOO upset when I get excited about a hill climb that I'm pretty sure I wasn't in granny gear for, so I stop, get off my bike, and he's convinced I'm having a mechanical -- I'm just looking to see which gear I'm in!

Karen in Boise

Hehe!! how funny!! I can just see you...'WAIT honey...I just gotta SEEE!!!!"

HA HA HA!!! I'd be doing the same darned thing!!

[Kris]

I'm thinking about getting a road bike after years on a hybrid, so I went to the bike shop and the nice young man looked at me and brought out a beautiful yellow bike, checked the size, and off I went. I rode a bit and thought I'd check out the shifting, and found out I didn't have a clue! So I went back, and the nice young man was standing in the parking lot, waiting. His first words were, "I forgot to tell you about the shifters."

So you'll be ahead of me and my saleperson, because you know enough to ask.

I didn't buy the bike, but I might. I'm going to try as many as I can first, and it's going to be my prize for getting to goal weight at Weight Watchers.

[aicabsolut]

I'm interested to see how those 105 shifters got setup with a gear indicator....one came with my Dura Ace shifters but definitely not with my 105 ones (the indicator usually comes with new shifters, not with new cables). It's definitely not a necessary tool, but it is nice to have .

[marni]

I used to ride a commuter bike while living in Europe for errands and getting about town. When we came back to the states, I bought a road bike and was trying it out in the parking lot at the LBS. I went to try out the brakes individually and went to hit what I thought was the rear brake and ended up flying over the handle bars. It turns out that in Europe the front and rear brake are reversed. It took a bit of getting used to but five years later, I now know right is the rear brake, at least here in Texas. Fortunately the gear shifting is the same.

All on the learning curve of discovering the joys of using a new road bike.

hippie bike chick, sugar land, texas