I tried both my bikes out in deep snow on Thursday. The 35x700c bike was really pushed around by ruts and stuff but cut through the deep snow really well, the 2.1x26" bike handled the ruts and chunks well but bogged down in the deep stuff. Neither had studs but I imagine they'd behave like they did better with studded tires. I'll be putting studs on the mountain bike cuz it took the real world road conditions better.


edit:
knob shape doesn't effect the ice its only the amount of studs you can put into the ice and the placement of the studs: side studs climb out of ruts and help in leaning, the middle ones do the rest.