[Volones]

Congratulations on taking the huge first step to getting some serious bike miles under your belt!

If your chain is skipping it could be two things:
1 - The links are "frozen" together and it doesn't bend like it should in places. You can check this by watching the chain at the rear derailleur as you turn the crank backwords by hand. The rear derailleur cage should stay pretty much in one place with a good chain, but if you see the bottom pulley moving toward the crank periodically, then frozen links are your problem. Luckily this is a pretty easy fix. First make sure your chain is clean and lubricated, then take two small screwdrivers, put them through the chain on either side of the frozen link, and carefully move them apart a little bit in opposing directions (one away from you and one towards you). What you are trying to do is to very slightly separate the plates of the chain so they can rotate on the pin again. Once you get the link so you can move it by hand put some extra lubrication on it and it should be fine for a long time.

Be careful with the screwdrivers, you are basically twisting the chain and it is possible to twist one of the plates right off, which will lead to you needing to replace the pin (not a tough fix in itself, but it takes longer to do).


2 - The chain is mis-aligned due to the shifter cables being out of adjustment. This is easier to fix and usually can be done without any tools at all. First check the alignment of the chain by spinning the crank backwards and looking from near the sead to the rear cassette (gear cluster). You should see a chain that is on one gear and equal distance from the gears on either side of it. If it is closer to one or the other, the cables have "barrel adjusters" to fix this. You should find one at the front shifter unit right were the cable enters it, same for the rear shifter unit, and a third one where the cable goes into the rear derailleur (no second adjuster for the front derailleur though). As you tighten the cable, the rear derailleur will move towards the larger gears, and loosening it will move it toward the smaller gears. Turn it a little until it looks centered and then test it on a ride. You should be able to get it adjusted so that it doesn't skip, but when your shifters 'click' to the next gear, the chain quickly follows along.

Sorry this is such a long post, I wish I had pictures as that would help a lot!

BTW, the best book you can get for working on bikes is "Zinn and the art of bike maintenance". The author is a bike builder and tech editor for VeloNews magazine and is much better at explaining things than I am.

Great Luck to you!