Originally Posted by
AdamDZ
In my experience studded tires offer far worse traction on hard asphalt and concrete as there is less contact with rubber. So I have two sets of wheels for Winter, if it isn't freezing I would rather ride on regular tires. But belt drive indeed complicates matters here.
I doubt that the traction difference on pavement between my regular tires and my studded ones are much different than my regular tires and knobby ones. I don't take corners at 20 mph with them, but studded tires are sort of hard to go fast on anyway. Lots of studded tires don't even have any studs on the center rib.
Location matters too. There's not that many days here in the winter where doesn't drop below freezing at some point. We'll go weeks without it getting above freezing at all. There's always a risk of encountering some ice, even if it's above freezing. A layer of water on top of ice is worse than just ice.
So I pretty much run studs from December through most if not all of March. Sometimes they'll go on in November.