Electric Cycles in Srinagar

Forget the plains calendar. Rain comes through the year on western disturbances, spring is the wettest stretch and autumn the driest. October and November, clear skies and chinar leaves on the road, are the best months to ride. July is the warmest at a mean high of just 30 °C. The heat that keeps Delhi riders indoors? Not an issue here.

Winter is what you plan around. January minimums average −1.9 °C and snow comes most years, leaving slush and black ice on the side roads. Lithium cells give up range when it's cold, and the drop is steepest on the coldest mornings. Keep the bike indoors overnight, charge it at room temperature, and expect noticeably less distance in December and January.

Most riding is flat. Old city, Lal Chowk, Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar, the Jhelum bunds. The climbs sit at the edges. Boulevard Road runs level along Dal Lake, but the side roads up to Nishat, Shalimar and the Zabarwan foothills rise sharply, and the loop round Hari Parbat has a few short pitches of its own. Batamaloo or Bemina to the University of Kashmir at Hazratbal is about 12 to 15 km. If you're new to riding here, try Boulevard Road first, on a calm morning. It's level with the lake beside you, and it tells you how the bike feels before you take it anywhere near the foothills.

And the cycling infrastructure? Better than you'd guess. Smart City work added public bicycle docks at Lal Chowk, Dal Gate, Hazratbal, Eidgah, Chanapora and Bemina, a cycle track on the Elahibagh to Soura corridor, and a 9.3 km walkway along Boulevard Road from Badyari Chowk to Nishat Bagh. It's patchy. Still, nowhere else in the region has more.