Originally Posted by patentcad

What kind of riding do you intend on doing? Solo? Flat? Hilly? Group rides? Fast group rides? Any interest in racing some day?

It's tough to do a decent road bike for less than $1,000, but you should give us a little more info, it is possible for sure. Generally you'd probably do better selling your old bike and looking for a used bike on eBay. You can probably find a good used bike that was $1200 new for half that price with a far better component/frame mix than you'll achieve by re-fitting the Motobecane.