Lots of great advice, especialy to ride and practice. IMHO "disreali gears" are nice, lots of variation, cool equipment to hang on your frame but the shifts will never be as sweet as when you hit it just right on your 3spd.

He is. Don't write it off though, re-read it in a couple of months and you'll get more out of it.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about and its very cool to see people still really do it well. and becoming rare. I'm not one of them but I aspire to be one day...as an aside I think by and large, people aren't as interested in technique or form as perhaps they once were (or in some cases should be) ok that's pretty off topic now...sorry!

Wow, what a fantastic group of answers! I'm just fascinated by all this. As someone who has never been particularly mechanicially inclined, I'm really learning a ton. I grew up in a family with a divorced mom who didn't do mechanical things (so either we hired someone, or things fell apart -- mostly the latter), and a dad who is a professional woodworker. My dad is so good at this stuff that he never really taught me, if that makes sense. And as a girl, I think it was just assumed I wouldn't get into it. So gears are a new world. But as I get older, I find that things I never wanted or needed anyone to teach me have become interesting to me. And my boyfriend is the kind of guy who really isn't mechanical himself, so I can't rely on him to just do things, the way my ex-husband did, and he also encourages me to explore doing things for myself. So here I am, learning how to shift a bike! Cool.

I intend to get down-and-dirty when repairing the Shogun I bought earlier. That will be a great way to "see" the things I can't visualize just reading stuff. But I love to learn by reading, then doing. I find that half-way through the doing, things suddenly seem familiar from the reading, and I get it.

And Zaphod, I totally agree. I'm all about doing things correctly, and learning everything I can about form and function so I really understand why something works. I may ignore half of what I learn, but I want to know it step-by-step. My students love to skip right to the hard stuff and then wonder why they can't achieve greatness. I'm co-teaching a class right now (I'm teaching half the kids and another teacher is doing the same class with the other half) and I'm constantly up against this, as the other teacher wants to rush them through fifty things poorly, and I want them to do five things really well. In the end, I bet we all get there, but of course I prefer my way . And I don't think that's off-topic. We're here because we want to learn, and we are often attracted to vintage things because of the sense that what's lasted this long has an inherent value because it's been done right.

right on its comforting to know that somebody who teaches kids believes this.

I'm attracted to vintage things because there's often food around.

Forget about it. Just get a one speed bike.

I haven't noticed this phenomenon. Where are you getting vintage stuff AND food?

this is news to me. of all the things to find stuffed into your bottom bracket.

And beer, let's not forget beer. ( for hydration purposes of course )

I dunno, once I went grey, they just seemed to show up.
The beer is a given, that's why it's called bottle cage.

Falling off bikes, though, tends to upset Mrs. RT.
She said the next broken bone = n-1 bikes.
Maybe less beer.
Maybe.

Falling off bikes tends to upset me, frankly. Last time I fell off, it was because I hadn't done a thorough check after the time before, and my rear brake cable on my hybrid bike popped out of the caliper holder thingy. Depressed the brake lever... nothing happened, so I hit the front break. Too hard. Over I went. This came from falling hard the summer before, going around a curve. Broke 2 ribs, my hand, and my helmet. So falling is bad. I don't like falling. Fortunately, I have found the vintage bikes handle better than my "old" modern hybrid, which was a beast. So less falling, I hope.

Back on topic, took the Panasonic out for about 5 miles yesterday. Burned up a hill, just dying but thinking: "at least this is better than the Sports. God, I'm out of shape..." Then realized, at the top when I stopped at a light, that I was in about 4th gear the whole time. I have no feel for what a lower gear should be like, so I hadn't noticed. The next hill was significantly easier . I can shift the right side without looking. Haven't had to shift onto the larger ring yet. I'm picking up a bit of speed on the downhills, due to increased comfort and less fear that every slippery, wet leaf I encounter is going to send me flying with these narrow tires. Burning up the uphills, and enjoying the flats. Pondered cadence, but I still like coasting too much, and can't imagine pedaling on a downhill at this point. Did a lot of shifting up and down through about 4 gears, but that's a start.

Thanks all!

On the downhills, be sure to raise your feet and yell "whoooo hooo!" once in a while. Be a kid.

I always tell people new to friction shifting to go slow into gears. One buyer claimed to know how to use them and then his first move was a five gear drop on an uphill. I thought for sure the derailuer was going to blow up. Just takes some pratice.

I will admit to being far too terrified to do this, yet. My greatest fear on earth, probably my only true fear, is falling. I hate flying, but can stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Why? I know I won't fall. Like rock climbing (roped in), don't like ladders. I am the SLOWEST. SKIER. ON. EARTH. Just ask my kids. If you take one turn at a time, you are less likely to get out of control and fall. This is not logical, and probably not true, but so my reasoning goes. I think this partly comes from just being me, and is partly a result of my disease (which is hereditary, so I've always had this), which makes it hard for me to locate the position of my body in space (before the wise cracks come, yes, I know I'm on Earth). It's called proprioception, and I don't have any. So on straight roads on a sunny day, I'll go so fast it's dangerous, and on dark, curvy roads on a wet night, I'll be so slow that it's dangerous. I can't judge my own speed at all. And I bump into the coffee table all the time.

So when I'm going downhill, I have my hand on the brake, my eyes on the road and my heart in my mouth. No feet up, no delight. I save that for the slight climbs . Then I'm happy as a clam, and probably going too fast!