I use the Marathon Winters on my bike, although mine are 700c vs. your Dixon's 26 inchers. My experience so far (this is my first winter commuting) has been similar to yours; I find myself slipping and sliding in snow - especially the kind that has that "mashed potato" consistency. Otherwise they perform great on ice or well-compacted snow. I have an old mountain bike that I'm in the process of making DIY studded tires for with some aggresive 26x2.125 knobbies that I plan to use for crappy conditions, but I feel my MWs will still suffice for most days. My suggestion to you is to pick up another front wheel and mount a more aggressive tire on it because correcting a rear wheel skid is a lot easier than a skid with the front wheel. Also with your IGH rear setup it would just be easier to leave the MW mounted on the back. I hear good things about the Nokian W240s but I don't know about their puncture resistance. That being said one would hope that most of the things that cause punctures would be buried under the snow where they can't hurt you. Of course Murphy's Law still applies. The W240s seem like a good balance between aggressive tread and rolling resistance. I wanted them for my bike but chose the MWs for their more forgiving fender clearance; the W240s just wouldn't have worked for my application. If you're just going to use that front wheel on crappy days you could take it to the next level with some Extreme 294s or Schwalbe's Ice Spikers (Schwalbe gives their tire a 5-star puncture resistance rating). Good luck and make sure to post the results of your choice!