Studded snow tires are louder than other tires, snow tires without studs are softer than normal tires so less noise. Modern snow tires without studs are surprisingly good on ice, which is the only place studded tires can compete.
Noise levels is one of the things tires are rated by, but a quiet tire would normally require a softer compound and softer compound wears out faster than harder tires
Just switched to studded tires on my bike today (Schwalbe Marathon Winter). They make a HUGE difference. With my old tires I nearly hadn't any grip at all today. With the studded tires I can break on black ice and it feels like breaking on dry concrete.
Yes - they've been somewhat expensive. With shipping I've payed about 110 Euros. But I'll prefer investing some money in good tires, compared to crashing and landing under a car.
"Car and truck tires need tread, because these vehicles are prone to a very dangerous condition called "hydroplaning. At high speeds, hydroplaning is just possible for car tires, but is absolutely impossible for bicycle tires."
The studs in tyres are small carbide rods, which will easily chew through a soft material like asphalt. A rubber tyre would seem to be quite a bit softer than asphalt in colder conditions, so I have a hard time imagining the rubber wearing the asphalt down so significantly.
For examples, studded snow tires can tear up the road surface quite significantly, tend to kick up a lot of sharp fine dust. It's such a big problem they're often banned parts of the year in some regions where they're typically used.
It seems to largely suggest that GP is correct (see the figure in 5.3.8 for example), with the caveat that this is mainly a problem in colder regions of the world.
It would be neat to somehow get both behaviours maxed.
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