Road Cycling - Just got my bike home and....

I thought this was odd but maybe its not, My gears on the bike were on the smallest front and rear cog and the chain seems to be rubbing the derailer, is this normal??? I dont know how often i will really go there but, if it says 27 speed i want all 27 speeds.

Still a newb so bare with me if im using wrong terminology!

Actually, it is not normal for the chain to rub against the derailleur, it'll only cause wear and tear. If you are saying that the gears are the smallest in both the front and the rear, you are in a wrong combination. It is wrong because it causes the chain to be aligned in such a way that it is not very straight and cause a lot of wear to a side of the chain and the rear cog. You should avoid the biggest gears in both the front and rear too. In fact, you should avoid at least 2 gears at the back, depending which gear you are in the front.

Biggest chainring at the front : Avoid the biggest 2 at the rear.
Smallest chainring at the front: Avoid the smallest 2 at the rear.
Middle chainring at the front : Avoid the biggest and the smallest.

Thus, you don't really have 27 speed unless you really want to shorten the life of your drivetrain.

Thanks that helps me out a lot i havent actually ridden it yet, but thats where it was when i picked it up from the bike shop, so just turned the wheel a couple of times and heard the noise hence the reason for my question.

Yeah, it may technically have 27 gearing combo's, but you really can't use them all without getting a bad chain line and some serious chaine rub. The previous posters listed good guidlines to follow.

The term for the biggest chainring/biggest rear cog and visa versa is 'crosschain'. Don't want to ride 'crosschained', for the reasons stated above. That said, at least on Campy equipped bikes, one can simply moved the front derailleur over a bit with the Ergo levers to stop the rubbing. Even when fully crosschained.