Originally Posted by noumena9
knobbies suck for cornering on the wet. suck. i think that the idea is that knobbies work better in gravel and dirt, where the the crap on the ground has some friction at least against itself. for snow and ice this isn't the case. I think that they conditions that would make knobbies work better (packed snow, perhaps) are rare and tend to (at least in the case of packed snow) be slipperly as hell with or without knobbies anyway.
Packed snow is very common in my commuting environment, and that's where the knobies were most useful. they were not any better or worse on ice than smooth tires. If melted snow is more common than packed snow, they are not worth it, but if packed snow is a common occurrence, and if hills are involved, knobbies are a big improvement. If ice is very common you might want to suck it up and buy studded tires.