Today I took my new baby, a Felt Z70 out for my first real road ride. I have Shimano 105 30 speed shifters, F/Derailleur Shimano 105, R/Derailleur Shimano Ultegra 10 speed. No problems using the R/Derailleur but I wasn't sure about shifting the F/Derailleur. On my ride Prospect Park in Brooklyn there is one big hill and I needed to be in the easier gear but was not sure how to shift the F/Derailleur? Does it work the same way as the R/Derailleur or is it just the opposite? Right now the chain is on the smallest ring in the front. Is this the easiest gear for a steep hill? Do I need to get the chain on the largest ring and work the right side shifter?
This all may sound confusing but if anyone understands what I am trying to say and can help explain shifting, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks

The left shifters moves the chain to the bigger ring if you shift the brake bar to the right. The small tab under that shifts it to the smaller ring.

Smaller ring gives easier gearing, bigger ring gives harder gearing.

So small ring makes for easier climbing. Try not to cross chain on the extremes, though it's not really a problem most of the time.

Ok, here it goes...

1. Yes, the smallest chainring up front is the easiest one to be in for climbing, or in general.

2. Yes, it works the same way as the rear derailleur, i.e. pressing the inner shifter will always move the chain to a smaller chainring or cog and pressing the entire brake lever will always move the chain to a larger chainring or sprocket.

2a. Moving to a smaller chainring in the front (with the inner shifter) will make it easier to pedal, but you will move less distance for every revolution of the cranks and moving to a larger chainring in the front (by pressing the entire brake lever) will make it harder to pedal but you will move further for every revolution of the cranks.

2b. The opposite holds true for the rear. Moving to a larger cog (by pressing the entire brake lever) means it will be easier to pedal and you'll move slower for every revolution of the cranks where moving to a smaller cog (by pressing the inner shift lever only) will make it harder to pedal but you'll move further for every rotation of the cranks.

Just fiddle with it and press the levers you've never pressed before while pedaling. You won't hurt it too badly and you'll learn how it works.

Your bike shop shouldn't have let you out the door without explaining all this to you...

just play around with it at low speed on a flat. It's not hard to learn.

Thank you all, this is just the info I was looking for. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow.

Who is going to explain how to trim to this dude?

Haha

Don't feel bad or anything just have fun and put your (what seems like a really nice) bike to work!

Triple-he won't need to trim.

LBS: "So, you do know how to shift this bike, right?"

Buyer: "Sure, no problem..."

Make sure the shifter is out of Park and you don't have the emergency brake on.

an easy way to remember which way to shift is: when you move the "metal" shift lever, the chain moves in the same direction (works for both front and rear derailer). So think about how you want to move the chain, (harder larger higher) gear in the front, or (easier larger lower) gear in the back. As for "trim" there are several posts here that explain it. But for the most part you probably won't use it much. For the most part, trim is only used is in "rolling" hill areas. If you live in New England or other areas where there are lots of hills, you will never need "trim" (because you use both the largest and smallest chainring frequently. Trim is only used on the middle chainring, and only if you go the full range of the rear derailer.

You'll get used to it. I like RussB's suggestion of which way you move the metal lever is the way you move the chain. I experienced the same learning curve when I switched to the modern shifters from downtube shifters.

Interesting; I can see how that makes sense.

I think of the larger lever moving to a larger gear, smaller lever to a smaller gear.

Then, small front gear when I'm climbing (or wussing out), and big front gear when I want to go fast (or I'm fresh). After that, change the rear gears to taste.