I think the comment on riding with studded tires to be unduly authoritative. You imply that any conditions that would actually require studded tires are actually too dangerous in which to ride. I use studded tires in the winter primarily for three reasons. First, I have 3.5 miles of dirt road to get to pavement. Most of the winter, studs are absolutely necessary to navigate the road safely, especially at night. Second, there are often times when the road is mostly clear, but there are spots, especially in the morning, where water has refrozen over the pavement. Studs can add a valuable margin of safety when coming on these spots. Third, the weather in Vermont is difficult to predict. I usually won't head out in a snow storm or even the morning after a storm, but when the storms come through during the day, studded times can save your bacon on the ride home. The best reason not to use studs is the incredible amount of rolling resistance they add, though they make for great strength training. The comment about studded tires being slippery on dry pavement is absolutely not true. Noisy, maybe, but not slippery.
