I've been riding all winter - although with my "trusty" Ural sidecar. A couple of friends of mine ride their DR350s with studded tires. They use Trelleborg Army tires. The rubber keeps its softness even in really low temperatures. The studs are kind of "dual purpose", 3 mm I think. Not too bad on asphalt, and sufficient on snow and ice.

I don't see what the big deal is about riding in the snow... and about studded tires. Myself and a gang of folks here in the Northeast USA use automotive studs in our tires and we ride year 'round. I have gone for 56 months straight riding daily with no other mode of transportation to work on my previous 28 mile round trip.

The tires of choice are Dunlop D606, Kenda Trackmaster II's, Pirelli MT21s and some use Kenda K270s. The key is not to have too many studs and to limit protrusion in order to allow the rubber to contact the road. Generally, one stud per knob is sufficient; however, I have used 2 or more studs in larger knobs. Carbide-tipped automotive studs work best in terms of wear/grip combination, but steet metal screws work well for those on a budget, especially for the rear tire. I have also run a Barum C27 on the fron with 800 trimmed stainless clapboard siding nails. that thing hooiked up unbelievably well, but I had to replace the center row of 300 every few hundred miles.

Mark

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driving on ice : lower tire pressures, drive cautiously carefully and slowly. no sudden movements. use a higher gear, this is one occasion where lugging your engine may be appropriate, it prevents wheelspin and loss of balance.
black ice: one tip, if your headlight even in daylight shows the road ahead "glissening" ie light from road reflects back to you, then there is black ice. stay vertical, pull in clutch and coast. i have used this technique many times. here in canada ir snows 6 months os the year.