Thanks for the advice (even the one that basically said RTFM) and I did get it right. However, I took the Schwinn back to the store. Every ride on it was more and more depressing. It wasn't as fast as I thought it was going to be, and even though my butt was comfy, my hands weren't. All in all, it was worse than the broken, worn-out Avalon it replaced. I exchanged it for a Genesis 29er. That one was put together properly. The brakes are perfect, the shifters are perfect, and the wheels are perfect. I am under no illusions that it's a serious mountain bike, but it'll do what I want it to do happily AND its 320 lb weight limit is perfect. I swapped out the awful stock seat for my comfy spring one, as well as my shock seat post. The tires don't seem to be the best quality so I expect to have to replace them within 300-500 miles. I'll be taking it on its first shakedown ride today and I'll post how it goes. Hopefully it'll still be good after 20 miles, but based on the half mile of testing in my driveway I'm sure it will be.