Newbie
 

Hi there all,
I just bought my first road bike Marin Mill Valley 06.
On my first ride today I noticed that while shifting the front gears from the low gear to the middle gear and from the high gear to the middle gear I required extra click to fit the gearing so they will not make some rattling noise, is this normal?
Thanks.

It's not necessarily normal. If you got it at a shop, see if they'll readjust it to make shifting work better.

I mention the shop because, when I bought my first "real" road bike a week and a half ago, the front shifter was pretty bad; I had trouble just getting it to change gears. I said, "Fix the front shifter and I'll buy it," and while I walked my commuter bike back home to pick up the roadie later, they took it in to their shop and made some adjustments. I came back, took the new bike out for a ride, and it shifted much, much better.

After a few more rides, I was noticing that it still wasn't ideal. So, I took it in to their shop again, and they worked a little magic, resulting in a very nice-shifting bike.

While what BarracksSi said is entirely true, you may not be familiar with a piece of cycling terminology known as "trim." This is a middle click, between a large sprocket and the next smaller one, which allows you to use more of the rear cogs without rubbing. (the rattling you mention is more commonly referred to as rubbing around here. not that it matters, but just thought i'd help you in the lingo. :))

Consider: If you are in the largest sprocket in front, you may only be able to use about 1/2 the rear cogs without it rubbing on the front deraileur. By having a middle click, where the front derailleur does NOT move the chain but does move slightly inward, you may now hit a few of your larger cogs in the rear without annoying/detrimental rubbing. because the chain can go back at a greater angle than when the derailleur was in the original position.

I would imagine that your problem is a poorly adjusted front derailleur, but you should keep in mind the trim settings. Also, iirc, Marin is one of the brands carried at REI and Sport Chalet. If you did purchase the bike there, I recommend taking it to a real LBS to have the derailleur adjusted, as many of the department sporting goods stores are ill equipped to properly deal with bicycle repairs and adjustments.

-Steve

Thanks all, the guy at the shop actually advised using the middle click to adjust after shifting from the small sprocket and the big sprocket into the middle sprocket. I was not a ware of this 'trick' but indeed there is no rattling if I use the trim technic.