Thanks for all that info, Wogsterca! Looks a little intimidating, but we'll see if I can pull it off. As for why it's not shifting, I'm pretty sure its one of the reasons you mentioned. In fact, I'm pretty positive the bike just wasn't put together very well, which is just SHOCKING that a product from TARGET would be not so well assembled.
I'll post again after I've had a chance to play with it and let you guys know how it went.