Help making my first e-bike

[ewingcorp]

I would like to make an e-bike from my current mountain bike. My bike looks something like this: LINK
However, all of the kits I saw wouldn't seem to fit my bike. (I would prefer ready to set-up kits)
I would prefer something that would cost below 400$ total and maybe reach speeds of over 20mph.

I would appreciate any help/ feedback.

 

[indianajo]

26" power wheels will fit. Available on amazon & ebay for ~$300 without battery. come with controller throttle, brake handles, sometimes display and PAS pickup. My display was inaccurate & leaked when it rained, don't bother.
A triangle battery would fit. As I bought one each pile of trash from amazon & another from ebay, I recommend the ones from lunabike if you live in the US. Mine was $630 and actually worked. That was 17.5 ah which gets me 30 hilly miles at 8-10 mph. Smaller batteries are cheaper & go less miles.
I like geared hub motor for no drag when power is off. ebikeling.com often has some built in a 7 speed sprocket equipped rear wheel with 1.9" tire. The sprocket is a freewheel, so if you want more ratios than 14:28 you can buy another. (I could never find any in stock with lower ration than 28).

 

[byunbee]

Any kit with battery will cost you closer to $1000, at which point you have to ask yourself, "Is it worth modifying my old bike to make it electric or is it better to purchase a brand new ebike in the $1000 price range?"

Of course, if you are doing this as a fun hobby, then go at it.

 

[harryS]

$400 is pushing it. You're likely to get batteries with laptop cells that wear out in a few months if you're lucky, or burn down the house if extremely unlucky,

The trouble with your current bike is no place to hang a battery or mount a controller. You can stlll build motorize it it, but unless you're good, it will look like warthog.

I've built enough kit ebikes (lost count) to know that I can buy something for less money, Still, if they don't sell what I need want,, I might still build another.

Some advice in passing. Avoid front motors. They're known to rip suspension fork and alloy fixed forks apart under the torque, Most cheap batteries with generic chinese cells won't last. Some electrical skills, like ability to solder, use a voltmeter, and understanding electricity, all are nice to have when building a bike, Enough power in even a cheap battery to set things on fire, so be careful.

 

[indianajo]

Some advice in passing. Avoid front motors. They're known to rip suspension fork and alloy fixed forks apart under the torque,

Yeah front motors are incompable with suspension forks carbon forks or aluminum fork. I have 5000 miles on my front motor with a steel fork. OP's bike showed a suspension fork, which is why I recommended a rear motor with sprocket cluster included.