Studded winter commuting tire dilemma

Hi all! 

Does any of you commute by bike in the winter? I'm torn between the Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro and the Marathon Winter, specifically the 26" ones to fit my commuter hardtail. 

The Ice Spiker is obviously more extreme, has more studs and would work well in deeper snow, might grip better in icy rutted tracks, but I guess my commutes would be mainly on better days with less slush. 

I'm mostly looking for ice traction, and I was not necessarily impressed with the Ice Spikers when trail riding on crust/ice a few years ago (I sold them right after one ride).

Basically, I'm wondering if the 26x2.0" Marathon Winter would be good for icy patches, some light snow/slush, on hilly city streets. I don't care much about rolling resistance, but stability would be my priority. The Ice Spiker Pros are 60$ cdn at CRC and the Marathon Winter (240 studs) are 38,50$, which is pretty cheap. I'd do an Ice Spiker front/ Marathon rear but I prefer to have the same feel (unless someone says otherwise).

Has anyone used those? What were your impressions and terrain/conditions like? Thanks!

I live in Calgary and the Marathon is perfect. Riding on an icy pathway with an Ice Spiker pro is like riding in peanut butter. We do have pretty decent pathway snow removal here so if you had a lot of heavy snow to ride in then maybe you might need more traction than a Marathon can provide.

Awesome, thanks for the feedback! When you say peanut butter, is it to mean that it's slippery and high rolling resistance? 

I thought that since the Marathon has more rubber contact with the ground and some sipes, it might be better on ice than the Ice Spiker for this reason too. 

The bike paths are cleared part of the way, but the rest will be on quiet city streets. It's just that I live in Quebec in a city with a few steep hills to climb to go to work, so I wonder if the Marathon would have enough grip to go up hills when there is a bit of snow on the ground.

Are you in a hilly part of Calgary or downtown? I reckon that the city center is quite flat, but there are a few good hills around!

Yeah I’m suggesting it’s peanut butter like your soul can be heard sliding out of your body due to the excessive rolling resistance and alarming lack of traction on dry pavement. 

The Marathon definitely isn’t as aggressive, but I think you’re reading the sipes and other tire characteristics just right. I think the best blend of tire DNA I have experienced was Marathons with more aggressive studs swapped in (I think they were Terrene triple traction). Good rolling resistance, drop a few psi in the ice and the studs really hook up. 

If you need more than that for slushy snow, maybe just maybe get the fat bike out. 

I’m in a hilly part of the city that heads downtown so I get a bit of everything!

Thanks for the feedback @mrbrett! The Marathon Winter seem like the best choice for my situation too, I'll try them.

I live in Minneapolis and commute on 2" Marathon Winters. My experience is about the same as mrbrett's; they work great on ice, decent rolling resistance on dry sections, fine on compacted snow (like cars have driven over it until it's concrete). The only place they've failed me is when the snow gets soft during a melt and you sink right through, but only a fat bike tire will float you over that.

Thanks Tristan, you convinced me and I just ordered a pair of Marathon Winter. I could use the fat bike if the weather doesn't suit the Marathon, but I think that I'll just hop on the bus or walk when that happens. By the way, if you need new ones, the 26x2.0" currently are 38$ cdn at CRC. Even with the 50$ shipping+duty fee, it was cheaper to get two from them with a few other things than getting just one locally. Cheers

Good deal Martin! Yeah the Schwalbe winter stuff is incredibly inexpensive on CRC. Don't forget about more aggressive studs if the QC ice is getting to be an issue. The studs on those Marathons are steel, if I'm not mistaken, and a change out to aluminum carbide is both more durable and sharper if need be. 

Schwalbe, 45Nrth, Terrene, and Bontrager seem to have the same size studs from what I have seen so if you already have a fatty (it sounds like you do) and you already have some spare studs for those tires, they would fit right in the Marathon pockets. I might be thinking about a different size Marathon, but I think there were also some unused stud pockets on the 26 x 2.0" so another option would be filling those on the front tire.

Falling on ice is the worst.