Local conditionsl will vary. Starting my 1st Winter I had a set of Innova Steel Studded tires... useless after 2 months. I went down hard during ice rain. Nearly shattered my elbo and nearly did some serious damage to my shoulder. I was in serious pain for a few days but was extremely lucky to have had no serious injury. I immediately ordered Nokia W106's from Peter. Not a single slip in during the next three Winters.

We get relatively little icy conditions here in Buffalo NY. We tend to either get rain, or snow, but rarely the nasty stuff inbetween. That said, there are plenty of sections on my commute (especially side roads and parking lots I have to cross) that get iced up during the night. Commuters will melt the snow with their cars coming home at night, but then everything re-freezes over night... very slick condiutions, but no problem with the Nokias. The main roads tend to have more salt on them, they go from snowy to completely dry in as little as a few hours.

I don't love how much more effort snow tires take to move, but not going down hard is worth the extra security. I can ride easily on days that I can't even walk because it is so slick.

Happy riding,
André