Well, after doing more research, I've come to a few conclusions.

1. Motobecane sounds better than it is.
2. Buying bike components is a lot more expensive than a factory built bike. Damn.
3. There's a lot more to a bike than the shifters and derailleurs.

Basically, the Motobecane 700HT is a bike that's made to sound good, when in reality it has some major shortcomings. Here’s where the real problems in the bike lie (feel free to correct me if you think this is wrong):

1. The forks are the *cheapest* Rock Shox you can get. They’re a name brand, yes, but even ATI and Nvidia have their ****ty 9200SE and 5200LE cards. That’s what the Rock Shox Judy TT are.
2. The crank is actually okay (TruVativ FireX), but the bottom bracket is likely the cheapest $20 POS that could be found.
3. The disc brakes are the most worthless brakes you can find. They aren’t just the lowest end disc brakes from one manufacturer; Promax is the lowest end brake manufacturer in general. Pretty much any V-brakes would be better than the Promax disc brakes.
4. Handlebars, headset, seat, etc. are all junk as well. The frame might be okay, but I figure it’s still lowest-common-denominator material, as the same frame is also used in their $240 bikes (the Motobecane 300HT).

This is not to say that the bike is completely worthless, but they basically put on good shifters and derailleurs and put cheap crap everywhere else. Getting some slightly lower components in those areas and upgrading the forks and brakes is highly recommended.

I never did get a good reply on any of my questions, but after much searching around, this is what I found. Motobecane bikes are probably right on the same level as an equivalent priced Trek, Specialized, etc. However, with Trek and Specialized, you get a good warranty on the frame, and there are no tricks used to sell the bikes. You also get the bike fully assembled from a bike shop. Factor in the $70 it would cost to have a skilled mechanic assemble the 700HT, add in shipping, and the price is up to $560. $560 can buy a Specialized Rock Hopper or Trek 4900, which will both likely beat out the Motobecane. Plus, you get local support for tune-ups and such.

Why post all this information? Well, after all the time I spent looking for something like this, I'm hoping to save some other poor sap the trouble. Now, searching for "Motobecane 300HT", "Motobecane 500HT", or "Motobecane 700HT" will lead them to this thread, and they can read what I've listed. It's not that Sprtymama or Motobecane are rip-offs or con-jobs; it's simply that they are the (Michael) Dell of mountain bikes. It's like buying a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor and pairing it with integrated graphics and a motherboard that lacks and AGP slot. (Sorry if that doesn't make sense to others - I'm a computer geek, so the comparison makes perfect sense to me. )