Good morning,

The DP18 rims are quite narrow, 18.7mm outer width and 12.4mm between the bead lip, whilst a 23 or 25 tire can sensibly be considered to be the same width, there is also very little benefit in changing to a 25.

I have tried an old 28 tyre and that doesn't "look right", there quite a bulge over the sides of the rim and I am not confident that the tyre is securely seated.

There is no way that I would want to try LesterOfPuppets idea of a 38 or even a 32 on rim of this size, I have a nice downhill bit that ends in a fairly sharp turn, you go into the turn at about 35mph on an enthusiastic day.

I am not familiar with Panaracer, in the UK they don't seem to be competitive price wise, unless they last a long time. The one that you mention is about 50% more expensive that the Continental Ultra Sport, and I get about 1,500 miles out of a rear tire and about 2,000 out of the front, Gatorskins did last longer, but the cost per mile was about the same and I got less than a 1,000 miles out of the Blizzard Sport on the front wheel.

Some info from the Weinmann site http://www.weinmanntek.com/Products/RACE/DP18.htm

Bye

Ian