Originally Posted by
Arcanum
Given the advice and comments everyone has offered, I think I know what I'm going to do.
I have some 700x40 Kenda Klondikes from last year. They worked reasonable well, so I'll take off my front fender and run those at least to start. I may replace the front fender with mountain bike mud guards. I also may look into getting an even wider tire later on, since the front fender is off anyway.
The one hitch in that strategy is that bike shops as well as online stores start running out of studded tires in mid-December or so. By mid-January, when you really need them, they can be hard to find and will always be full price.