Mountain Biking - Thinner tires

I was noticing nowadays here and there that some riders are using thinner tires for trail riding, and I was thinking that this might be something to consider. Anyone have a opinion on this uses tires that are 1.5-1.8 on 26 size rims.

Thinner is faster, more of a chance of washing out.
Nice if you ride HOME from the trail. (street,dirt,street) because they are faster..............BUT, they blow on nasty terrain.
I notice more the Maxxis MONSTER tires on bikes. Roll OVER the rocks.
I like a thinner 1.95 rear-2.10 front. makes my ride nice, I do not follow the bike norm though.
Way easy to accelerate\ pull the smaller rear. And the big front mashes over objects\ curbs well. (in my case also a rear tire w\ more steering oriented treads)

My opinion? If more than 50% of your riding is street and speed is your main concern-yes.

Most other things considered mtb, no.

I agree 100% with William.

To be honest Jeff...I think you are in the norm. You just live in an area where big tires are needed (so for this area I guess you aren't :D). Go anywhere else and I would hazard a guess most mtbers are using 1.9 to 2.1...

thanks for the agree, I ment not norm as I'm running larger rear than front and most tire sets I've seen have a larger (by tread) rear and I've reversed this.

O.K for me but don't buy like this before trying.

I actually run larger in the front then back. I rely on my ability to hookup mid turn more in the fron then rear.

I was noticing nowadays here and there that some riders are using thinner tires for trail riding, and I was thinking that this might be something to consider. Anyone have a opinion on this uses tires that are 1.5-1.8 on 26 size rims.
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Actually 2 threads of this same post..... Some of us posted here several days ago. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=51509