Maybe this has been covered before, but. Living in norther WV it's all steep hills ending in curves. Would studded tires help maintain traction where I have to ride brakes to stay under 30mph that follow right into bends? Traffic is minimal and plowing is haphazard.

Studded tires are great for snow and ice. I could be wrong but I imagine that snow and ice tends not to stick around for a long time in West Virginia. The continental winter contact tire is a good alternative if you deal with snow and ice only sometimes.

Review: Continental TopContact Winter II tires - VeloNews.com

Here in Iowa, I have studded tires on one bike and the conti winter contact tires on another. I use the studded tires when the roads are pretty bad; otherwise I use the bike with the winter contact tires.

Yes - If you're riding on snow and ice.

If you riding dry pavement - NO!!! Studs will slip on pavement, rubber is MUCH better on dry paved roads.

That's why I like the continental winter top contact tires; they're good on paved roads.

I will look into the top contact. Might be a good alternative. Jan and February are when its ruff around hear. December pretty mild

Agreed! I have a pair for the winter commuter. In the depths of winter, I ride a Nokian Mount and Ground studded front with Top Contact on the rear. As it warms in the spring (less ice), I transition to Top Contact on front and rear.

Studded tires are much better ice.
Much better on very hard packed snow.
The same as any knobby in snow without ice.
Worse on bare pavement. But OK if you take it easy.

In my experience studded tires are no worse than non-studded tires on dry pavement, other than adding a frying egg sound. The studs are immeasurably better on ice. I would not commute without studs in the winter as conditions that form ice, and black ice, and ice under a snow layer crop up unpredictably in New England.

Just bought a pair. Righteous tires, looking forward to this winter.

Suomi-Nokian Mount and Ground W tires I've been using (26-1.9") have 2 rows of studs on either side of the center ,

none down the middle, so are OK when the road is a Mix of bare pavement and Icy patches.. As seen here:
Opentip.com: Nokian T219281 Mount&Ground 160stud 26x1.9 St Bk

I plod along at about 5mph when the road is Icy.

The issue I've had with studded tires in the dry roads is cornering. Fast corners and the studded tires slip. Straight down the road is just fine.

Agreed. Good advice here.

And if you find your studded tires are slipping on dry pavement, you really need to drop your pressure. Personally, I have never had it happen unless I was pushing the bike (i.e., no weight on it).

Yep, just drop the pressure in your studded tires and you won't need to worry so much about the studs slipping on dry pavement.

Tires used? My nokian mount and grounds ( 26x1.95) seem to do well on pave. I'm 235 lbs and will vary the pressure between 30 and 40 psi.

Yep, I use Nokian Mount and Ground and love them. However, fast cornering on clear pavement is 'slippery'. By fast, I mean ~20 mph when you lean the bike into the turn, the studs contact the road and the rubber doesn't - and then the tires gets squirrelly.

I've had similar issues running Schwalb Marathon Winter studded (700x35), sliding out completely once (on concrete). Fortunately all the winter garb cushioned the fall nicely. :-)

studs aren't any worse than knobby tires on dry or just wet pavement. And most places, predicting whether you'll have dry, wet, or ice the entire commute, both ways, is pretty well impossible.

Last winter is the first winter that I have commuted with tyre studs. I liked them but I found that the studs seemed to start "floating" over the ice at about 10mph.

As such, when on hard ice, I needed to keep my speeds pretty low.

I bike-commute through Minneapolis winters, and I won't ride without studded tires. OP asked about "hilly twisty commute" and I want to make it clear, on fast curves on clear pavement, studded tires can be slippery - more slippery than any of my summer knobby tires.

Fixed it for you

Bene Sugg I got , use sew up glue and glue 1 tire bead down to the rim ,

then a low pressure tire wont creep around the rim and shear the stem pulling it away from the innertube.

the other un glued side will still let you mend punctures