>>1744702Really depends how much snow, and what's underneath. If you've got less than 2" of snow and there's not already a layer of smooth ice underneath it then you don't need anything different than your usual tires for the same surface when it doesn't have snow on it. More than that and it really does depend on conditions where you live: wet vs dry snow, persistent ice vs. small patches of ice vs. rutted ice, slush and sand/ice muck - all of these present different challenges. Two rules of thumb are that if you're riding on lots of ice, that's when studded tires are useful - but beware that studs do nothing unless there's enough ice to bite into, otherwise they do nothing but slow you down considerably on any other surface. And when trying to ride on a loose surface, a wider tire will help a lot because more surface area means you don't lose as much energy from constantly sinking in.
My general advice is that riding in winter conditions is nowhere near as difficult as most people who haven't tried it much assume - you can actually handle a lot on skinny slick tires as long as you're aware of your power output and center of gravity. The things that make riding a bike in winter hard are the exact same conditions that make cars slide and fishtail - with the difference that bikes are actually better at going up slick hills because a larger percentage of your total mass is located over the driving wheel, but much worse if there's ruts in ice since you can't stay upright if your front wheel gets trapped in a line that pulls the bike out from under you...
