In reply to Indy:
You could just use the middle ring at the front and then most of the gears at the back if you worried about funny
angles?
If you can get the front mech yourself, it's not too difficult to fit a new front mech and cranks and rear cogs.
If you can place trad gear and set up a belay and that kind of thing, bike gears aren't much more complicated, it's
just a different way of thinking as it were.
For me it seems to be as much about quieting the little voice in my head which says 'argh' as it as about grasping
something new. Things always seem easier once I've stopped thinking 'argh'.
Post edited at 18:11