Funny this thread would come up as I have been riding in deep light snow on my Swift. On the unplowed bike trail with asphalt at the bottom and 9 inches of light snow once I got going I was able to keep going. I have a studded tire on the front however I have been using the bald 1.6" standard tire on the back and it is working fine. I had not come up with a spare back wheel to stud so I thought I would take it for a slippery spin with just the front studded and the slick in back. I am amazed at how well the slick works in back.

I was wishing I had lower than the 52/32 with the 406 wheel but most of the time I really like the 52/11 high gear. I only use it about 10 percent of the time but I use 7th gear a lot on the flats.