Originally Posted by
dkbikemom
I am very confused about n+1. What do you mean "You will find out shortly?"
Just to help with your question, which you've nicely asked twice: whenever the question is asked, "How many bikes should a person own?" we here on the 50+ forum always believe the answer is N+1. That is, no matter how many bikes you own, we'll always support anyone's desire to own another.
So the "N+1" rule is that if you buy a good bike, and you make sure it fits and you take care of any little maintenance issues that come up, before long you'll enjoy cycling enough that you'll be ready for "N+1."
The relevance in your case is -- you have a chance to get a deal on a bike that is good enough to get you involved in cycling. Get a good bike, with good bike shop support, and you'll enjoy it. If the bike bug really bites you, it doesn't matter overly much what you get because before long you'll fall prey to "N+1."
The Motobecane you're looking at is a "good deal," but if you buy a bike online you're (a) assuming some risk that you might not get the right size (b) responsible for making the sure the bike is assembled quickly - not too difficult, but you might want to hire a local bike shop to help you check things over if you don't have a lot of bike repair experience and (c) on your own for follow-up maintenance and repairs.
Personally I think for a first bike you ought to buy from a local bike shop that you feel comfortable working with. If your local bike shops aren't super-helpful in the shopping/fitting/selection process, then you're just as well off buying online.