Originally Posted by
tjspiel
I'm really thinking that two bikes is the way to go. I pulled the A10s off my bike and put on one W106 and one Marathon Winter. I still had trouble with snow covered ice. The streets have improved a lot in the last week but I still have about a 2 mile stretch with a lot of uneven ice. The A10s would have been OK on that but not as good as the 106s or the Marathons. Earlier in the season I was trying to climb a moderate grade hill covered with glare ice. With the A10s my rear wheel kept sliding out from under me. With other studded tires I'll get some slippage in those conditions but not as bad.
What is nice about the A10s is that they do roll well for a studded tire.
So next year I may be getting yet another set of studded tires, this time for my MTB. This bike will be my "get through anything" bike and I'll reserve my road bike with the 106/Marathon combination for moderately bad to good conditions.
I wonder what would happen if you just put a tougher studded tire in front but a faster one in the rear? Obviously not an A10, but like a 106 or a Marathon Winter in the rear. If you had 2 wheels for the front (swapping front wheels take like 30 seconds max, right?) you could put a w106 on one wheel and a w240 on the other then use the one most suited to your riding conditions. What do you think?
(P.S. I always feel obligated to mention, for anyone reading my comments about this that I would *never* run a studded tire in the front but not in the rear. Different levels of studs in the front and rear are a different story, though.)