Schwalbe Marathon Winter Studded Tire 700 x 35

I rode these last winter through North York Toronto and they were excellent. They kept me from eating ice on more than one occasion. The only weekness is deep compact snow, but I am not sure if there is any tire that could make those conditions ridable. I paid much more than the price here from my LBS, and that explains the value rating.

Summary When the streets are clear or plowed these roll well. They are wonderful in ice and hardpacked snow, but are lackluster in compacted snow. Carbide studs should last a long time. More aggressive tires would work better with those conditions, but would have too much rolling resistance for the majority of my riding conditions. My budget limits me to 1 set of tires and these fit the bill.

I use these tires to commute without fear of ice in the winters since that was the biggest problem i had with cyclocross tires - no studs. These tires are fantastic in the ice and hardpacked snow when they lowered to around 30psi. In fresh snow they were fine for me, but it hasn't been above 3-4 inches in a snowstorm this season. However, in compacted snow, such as unplowed roads cars have ridden over that has not melted and refroze, they left me feeling very uneasy as I had to fight to keep my bike in a straight line. In my area the snow usually doesn't stay like that for more than 2 days after a snowstorm, so I can live with that compromise. On dry pavement they are somewhat loud, but the rolling resistance isn't terrible. These tires make the tradeoff of lower rolling resistance instead of large knobbies and higher rolling resistance. If you are spending a lot of time in compacted snow these would not be the best choice.

Been riding these for about a month now, and love them. They allow me to ride with confidence on ice on my 4-mile-each-way commute in Des Moines, Iowa. They help some but not a lot in accumulatedpacked snow, but my regular commute is all paved and gets plowed early, so these things are great. Expensive, yes, but I anticipate they'll last a few seasons. I'm riding the 700x35 size with Planet Bike Hardcore Hybrid fenders 45mm width and they fit well under there.