Originally Posted by
coominya
I run 50's on my 40km loop and average 20km/hr. There is no downside to wider tires unless you are trying to achieve a bit more speed, but if that's the case you should be on drop bars. The upside of wider rubber is more control and the ability to go places other bikes can't.
I think in terms of speed on dry pavement. Hence my propensity to go for a thinner tire. a 35-38mm tire gets me as off road as I typically need to go. (cut across hard pack dirty, stuff like that) Since I rarely have the need to plow through the mud a thicker tire is just giving me more drag with no upside.
Since I stay on dry pavement on my hybrid, thinner is better for me.
But if you do want to cut across a field or something regularly, running wider tires probably has more benefits than drawbacks. If you NEVER do that, wider tires are needless drag.
If I want to go out on the muck for fun, I've got a mountain bike with knobbies.