Originally Posted by PaulRivers

Ugh, ouch. How did it go back? If you have sheer ice studded tires stick to it no problem, but on roads you often have a lot of crap - snow that slides around, ruts on the road, etc.

I'd go with fenders if I could because that nasty black stuff you get on the road in the winter - that's nasty to get thrown up onto clothes.

In my experience - and people have disagreed with me and I don't feel that I have the experience to say I'm sure they're wrong - but in my experience there's been 2 types of bikes that are good for winter riding (in a northern climate like minnesota or illinois).

1. 700c bike with thin fulled studded tires like Schwalbe Marathon Winter's. I prefer straight bars, because it's easier to handle bumps and stuff (same reason mountain bikes have straight bars). If your roads are all well plowed and you only ride when the road are cleared curly bars might be fine to.

I tried fatter studded tires - like I said others have disagreed with me and I don't have a ton of experience with - but I did buy 2" studded tires and personally wasn't a fan. In snow they slide around a lot more (the skinnier 35c cuts through to the road surface). They didn't really handle more snow any better ime. Maybe they're better over rutted roads, but I didn't get much of a chance to test them with that before I went back to the 35c's.

2. Fat Bike / Pugsely / etc. In my limited experience this tire was fat enough to make a difference. Still floats on snow, but it's so fat it floats around slowly and is easier to control. I rode one on sheer ice (no studs) and while it did not stay upright on sheer ice, when it would start to fall over it was a slow enough fall that I could easily get a foot down (impossible with skinny tires on ice, when it goes down it's down).

I see a ton of fat bikes in the winter here in MN, and I can see why. A Pugsley still can't handle more than 6"-12" of loose snow, but it can handle most everything else.

That's my 2 cents...