Ideas for how to help my friend with his first eBike?

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

My best friend is moving to Cali soon, and he encountered this bike for free: a Muta "Specialized". He's interested in Ebiking because cali would afford him the chance to do that as his daily transport, and we know that puts a maximum of 750w for a motor type and we're already looking at hubs.
Problem tho, isn't just my lack of total experience- this bike also has a 150mm dropout which seems rare outside of 3KW monster hubs, and I'm not finding much about the bike. We're looking at $500-$750 for a budget and just basic daily riding for it's goal; any ideas or products you guys think we should look at? Or should I trade him a frame with a better dropout, build him a bike on that instead? I keep looking for motors with 150mm axles and I find little.

 

[Chalo]

I strongly doubt that bike has 150mm spacing. Take the wheel out and measure inside to inside. It was originally 135mm.

 

[amberwolf]

My best friend is moving to Cali soon, and he encountered this bike for free: a Muta "Specialized".

If it helps, the brand name is Specialized, and Muta is the model. Other labelling on it may have info leading to which version and year, if you need it. A giggle link for the name:
https://www.google.com/search?q=specialized+MUTA

this bike also has a 150mm dropout

It's not very likely that it is really 150mm (at least, it probably didn't come that way; to me the pics showing the rear hub don't look that wide, either). It's probably really a 135mm as Chalo notes.

 

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

I strongly doubt that bike has 150mm spacing. Take the wheel out and measure inside to inside. It was originally 135mm.

Yeah, it turned out he had measured it wrong; it's 135mm, which turns this into "How cheap can I get some parts" lol

 

[99t4]

"How cheap can I get some parts"

How about this one? One-stop shopping, price/shipping seems reasonable? Leaves ~$450 for the battery.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313931661025?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D240656%26meid%3De9cfe99b5fc24bc482bccc9cb5a48566%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D124953575133%26itm%3D313931661025%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A313931661025e9cfe99b5fc24bc482bccc9cb5a48566%7Cenc%3AAQAHAAABMIep8YrnpoI5Ip1Fr26ya5Zdwg2V78Yl01uYLsdPZcFTvxKxDts2M2LiSIpUM3yyPCg4I%252FI%252F%252BBr%252B3lbC%252BxYqInYGBmzIxc4EMw3YF0EDxTKyEMWXkk7wCKtBh6iESoMfF9XcI277ekxhal5lrq%252BL%252BozB9AEF5eKz77QA4LwekucZ8nkpa262S6RnyEA%252Fhki8CwV1bLjyUpqvRUPJcIcepK9SjBZJqskkFCfVDv73rGSzdKcFHNP9cerZ6yL%252Br2pAvIW7zAJwVoJMROLeij3spSVI%252FI%252BHC6Exq4i%252F%252FvWEccGlsOGt3N2b6PXYDhlpPm6ozWc0KM%252FeYtjjS%252BnMbT5xPaEAKh4pWwKcjJH%252BEReef0o%252F8lamOuYy8TJK4TCLSE9j3V%252FMI3H3nAEfYG0IetBna2U%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675&epid=8030522052

 

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

"How cheap can I get some parts"

How about this one? One-stop shopping, price/shipping seems reasonable? Leaves ~$450 for the battery.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313931661025?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D240656%26meid%3De9cfe99b5fc24bc482bccc9cb5a48566%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D124953575133%26itm%3D313931661025%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1&_trksid=p2047675.c101196.m2219&amdata=cksum%3A313931661025e9cfe99b5fc24bc482bccc9cb5a48566%7Cenc%3AAQAHAAABMIep8YrnpoI5Ip1Fr26ya5Zdwg2V78Yl01uYLsdPZcFTvxKxDts2M2LiSIpUM3yyPCg4I%252FI%252F%252BBr%252B3lbC%252BxYqInYGBmzIxc4EMw3YF0EDxTKyEMWXkk7wCKtBh6iESoMfF9XcI277ekxhal5lrq%252BL%252BozB9AEF5eKz77QA4LwekucZ8nkpa262S6RnyEA%252Fhki8CwV1bLjyUpqvRUPJcIcepK9SjBZJqskkFCfVDv73rGSzdKcFHNP9cerZ6yL%252Br2pAvIW7zAJwVoJMROLeij3spSVI%252FI%252BHC6Exq4i%252F%252FvWEccGlsOGt3N2b6PXYDhlpPm6ozWc0KM%252FeYtjjS%252BnMbT5xPaEAKh4pWwKcjJH%252BEReef0o%252F8lamOuYy8TJK4TCLSE9j3V%252FMI3H3nAEfYG0IetBna2U%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675&epid=8030522052

Hot damn, that looks pretty nice. Thanks!