Complete Road Bike Newbie...

[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