Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,810
Likes: 597
From: NJ, NYC, LI
Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
This spring I did several Randonneuring rides of 300-400 km (in one day) using Rat Trap Paas tires (26 x 2.3) and my experience was that they may feel slow, but in fact on pavement they are not slow at all, whereas on rougher surfaces they are a lot faster than thinner tires. The guys I was riding with are usually a lot faster than I, but on the rough surface they could not keep up; they were riding 38mm and 42mm tires.
Of course Randonneuring is not the same as touring; and not every tire is as fast as a Rat Trap Pass; but I'd say there is no downside to such a fat tire.
For what it's worth, I have not found those tires to be prone to flats, either; rather less so than other tires on my experience.