Have about 250 miles into the new bike, it isn't missing its shifts, however when a decent amount of torque is applied i.e. being out of the saddle it has a very rough like almost forced sound to it. Is this normal?

Not clear on what's happening.

It sounds rough when you're shifting out of the saddle/under a lot of torque? If so, don't do that - let up for a split second when you shift, even more so with the front derailleur.

Or, if you mean that it's making noise when you're just riding out of the saddle, I'd pay attention to the gear combinations in which it's happening. You may just need to adjust (or use) the trim positions or you may need to play with the indexing a bit.

It is when I am out of the saddle shifting, like I'm doing a climb and just hit the shift. How bad is it for the gearset doing that without letting up?

After 250 miles on a new bike, the cables don't have the same tension in them. The cable housings settle a little bit into the ferrules and frame, giving the cables more slack. Some say the cables stretch, but I think it's just an easy way to say it.

It could be that your front derailleur now rubs the chain. Or your chain is touching the next cog in back. Either way, all you have to do is adjust your cable tension. Try a quarter turn, loosening them like your unscrewing something. If that doesn't do it, do another quarter turn.

There's a barrel adjuster on your rear derailleur right where the cable housing meets it. You might not have an adjuster for the front derailleur, but you probably do. It might be on your frame, or part of the cable housing under the handlebars.

This is the solution for more than 90 percent of new bikes that have developed shifting problems after the normal break in period of around 200 miles.

I don't know that you'll damage anything - though if you're shifting the front under full load, you'll probably increase your chances of throwing the chain and potentially do some damage that way - but the long and short of it is: don't.

You don't need to sit down or stop pedaling completely or anything - you just need to practice letting up for a half second while you shift.

Indeed it is... Try to avoid shifting under ''load'' as much as possible. Premature wear of chain, cassette & chainring is expected if not.

How does it shift under light load? If that’s fine, you’re good, just learn to shift before you need to and do a half-stroke of easy effort while it shifts. Sometimes its unavoidable, but the less you do it the longer the parts will last.

It really is that easy. Just ease up, for a fraction of a second, at the time of the shift.

Great advice here! I just adjusted my rear cable on my new bike last week after about 750 miles / 2 months of riding. I wasn't able to shift into my smallest rear cog even under light load. A few turns on the barrel adjuster solved the shifting problem.