When should I expect the chain and derailuer to touch/make noice if properly set up?
 

I just got into cycling a few months ago. I originally wanted to buy a new hybrid kind bike, but a friend of mine had a used road racer he would be willing to sell for just a few more bucks, and I went for that option. Its a Trek 5000 with a complete Ultegra 600 package. I believe the bike is 5 years old, but it has hardly been used (< 100 miles on it).

- I see people here normally recommend upgrading wires etc on a used bike, but since this one is "new" (at least in terms of use/wear) I would think thats unnecessary, or?
- I had trouble adjusting the gears after assembling the bike, so I took it to a shop. Once I got it back it was probably in even worse shape than when I brought it in, so I returned asking them to take a second look at it. They did, and it got a lot better. That said, it still doesn't seem perfect to me but I am not sure what I should expect... It does shift into most gears, but on most of them you have noice from the deraileur touching the chain. I realize that if you youse the biggest gear in front and smalles in the rear (or the other way around) you will always have this (and also that I should avoid using the gears creating these high angles)... But lets say I am on the big gear in the front, how many gears should I be able to shift down from the highest gear before there is any touching of the chain?

English is not my first language so I hope I am making myself clear... Basically I am asking if I can make my gear work without any "noice"!

The big gear in front and small gear in the rear should NEVER be a problem, and should run quietly. Is the noise coming from the front derailleur?

You are correct - you cannot get all gear combinations to run quietly, but you shouldn't be using some combinations anyway.

Typically, when I'm in the big chainring up front, I can use the 4 smallest sprockets at the back with my 9-speed setup. Any more is too much cross-chaining, and is noisy.

Your English is fine - better than many of the "natives" here.

Shane's answers are pretty close to what I would say too. But my front shifter has a trim function that I can get to work about 10% of the time - this allows more like the smallest 6 cogs while on the big ring. Yours may have that too, but I wish I knew how to make it work more reliably.

So if there is slight touching, not grinding but maybe using the first cog where there is contact, would you change gears or still use it? Do you avoid any contact at all, or only from say the largest 2-3 cogs on the big front gear / smallest 2-3 on the smaller front gear?

I think I need to get better at using my gears... I come from a 27 speed "all-purpose" bike where I don't think I ever changed the front gear, ever. Only used the 9 rear ones.

If the FD is properly setup,you might not even need the shifter trim to prevent derailer rub.But,the front shifter has trim for both rings. A light touch, less than it takes to shift to the small, ring will trim the derailer in the big ring,allowing use of big cogs without rub. In the small ring, as partial shift of the big liver trims the derailrer so small cogs can be used. If the shop nose pickers can't adjust it right,maybe they should go to www.parktool.com repair section and learn to do it.