"I realised I have no clue how the gears work" <-- i don't want to sound rude but you can't figure it out yourself either? I bet you know how a vcr, a dvd player and a nintendo wii works right out of the box w/o reading the manuals for sure. Figure it out how shifters work is not rocket science you know, besides if you comeback to the store the guys will think that you are a little bit "SLOW," to say the least, and will be embarrassing for you. Maybe that's why you are asking here...

Again, i didn't want to sound disrespectful neither rude ok? Just sit there with the darn bike and play with it, besides if you figure it out yourself, you wont forget. Just go to the parking lot start pedaling and move the shifters up and down you will see what is going on right away for sure