We’re glad you’re here learning about the benefits of low-maintenance, belt-drive, internal gearhub electric bikes. You’re ready to join the ebike revolution…but you can’t figure out which is the right Vvolt mid-drive model for you.
That’s OK, because at the end of the day our Centauri and Sirius models are fairly similar. We have a deep dive into the details of the Centauri over here, or keep reading below to find out if the Sirius might be the right choice for you.
When mountain bikes first appeared in the ‘80s they were a revolution, precisely because they were made to excel on all kinds of roads and trails. At the time, the term All-Terrain Bicycle or ATB was as popular as “mountain bike,” reflecting the kind of riding that many folks do. A little street, some unpaved roads and maybe some light-duty trails.
We took a page from the book of mountain bike origins when we designed the Sirius. It’s easy to handle on all kinds of roads, and the suspension fork adds just enough cushion to tame big potholes on the pavement as well as rutted gravel and occasional singletrack use.
Diving further into our definition of “easy handling”– lots of performance-minded modern mountain bikes suffer with sluggish steering on paved roads. They’re great on technical trails with bermed corners, jumps, roots and rocks…but it’s a departure from the “all terrain” origin of this kind of bike.
So we reined in the steering in Sirius, using a steeper head angle to keep the front end tucked under you when you’re climbing pavement. This pairs well with the short-travel fork, encouraging you to get a little spicy when the terrain encourages it, but reminding you that this is an “all terrain” ebike and not a trail-shredding machine.
With all that being said, the Sirius definitely edges out the Centauri when it comes to fun on unpaved terrain. It’s also capable as a commuter, but not designed for it in the same way. Sirius has mounts for a rear rack and fender, but unlike Centauri the fork does not accept racks or baskets. You’ll also need some adapter clamps to mount fenders onto a Sirius as in the image below. We include them with fenders we sell but you’ll want to get a set from us if you purchased your Sirius from one of our retail partners like Moosejaw or Exit Outdoors.
Now that you're up to speed on the Sirius...how about a spin through the features on the Centauri?