Originally Posted by
daoswald
Yep, you don't necessarily want to go with slicks because of the snow (I do have slicks on mine, but I drive when there is snow and ice on the roads).
For lights, a good rear flasher, a good rechargeable front-facing headlamp on the handlebar, and possible a CatEye Bottle Blinkey (I like the added visibility mine provides for other drivers). The Bottle Blinkey is not expensive, and it blinks an amber light to the sides to help avoid getting side-smashed by someone running a stop sign or pulling out of a driveway.
I think the rear flasher is every bit as important as a good headlight. Maybe even more-so. Keeping a reflector isn't a bad idea either, but some rear flashers will also serve as reflectors. I have a CygoLite HotShot Pro 150 on one bike, and a CygoLite HotShot Pro 100 on my other bike.
I actually have a rear flasher and a headlight. They're both visible in the images. I picked the pair ("Bell Lumina") up for $20 from my local Wally-Mart. The headlight is a two-brightness setting, with 70 lumens on the low setting, 150 on the high. The taillight only puts out 10 lumens. The pair works fairly well for what I do right now. I try to stay off the streets after the sun goes down, and I travel on the sidewalks through our campus. (Which is much safer, albeit frowned upon.) If I was riding on the streets, I'd probably get another taillight and maybe - over time - invest in a better pair of lights.
As for tires, I think the ones on there worked fairly decent tonight. The stock tires on that bike are actually pretty nice, and seem to get good traction. But there was no ice, and I did start to lose traction in the parts of the sidewalk that weren't cleared as well. If I was riding more regularly on ice or snow, or were riding on the streets, I'd probably invest in studded tires (or make my own out of low-end tires and some screws.)