just picked up a Centurion Cavaletto


The first thing I did when I got the bike was mess around with them, and the chain fell of. I've never used gear shifters like that, would anyone mind explaining how to use them for me? Thanks!

Sounds like your front deraileur might need adjustment. Or maybe your rear, depending on where your chain fell off.

Right hand shifter, back equals lower gears (bigger cogs in the back), fore equals higher gears (smaller cogs in back)
Left hand shifter, back equals higher gear (big chainring in front), fore equals lower gear (small chainring)

Best thing to do is put the bike in a workstand, start "pedaling" (by hand of course), and play with the shifters - carefully so you don't throw the chain or send the rear derailleur into the spokes.

SP
Bend, OR

Read the derailleur adjustment article at the Parks Tool site. It will walk you through it. Dropping the chain has nothing to do with old or new, or the type of shifting. Its all in how the derailleur has been adjusted.

Unless it has a Suntour Spir(i)t which is a high normal front d...

Just remember to take your time and adjust/operate things slowly on a workstand so you can get familiar with the derailleur's functions. I do suggest that you start out by having your LBS tune up the bike completely before you fiddle around with it, specially if you are not very mechanically inclined, so you have a good baseline to work with that you can set things back to if you want to explore with adjustments. It's easy to ruin stuff and hurt yourself if you flubb up the adjustments on things like your derailleurs. Even seasoned riders and mechanics have these things going into spokes and flying off once in a while.

Chombi