I have a bridgestone bike that I use as a commuter. 26" wheels / 559mm rims. I use this bike to carry groceries and other loads on a rear rack.

I currently have some 2.2" mountain tires installed (not sure of the ISO/ETRTO measurement). They're very comfortable, but very sluggish and weigh 600 grams and are very knobby for mountain riding. I ride 99% of the time on pavement.

I am interested in the Panaracer Pasela TGs -- I can get them locally for very cheap, so I am going to stick with this selection. I either have a choice between the 26x1.25 or 26x1.5. Both will fit the rim, but I wonder on what width to go with.

I know from previous experience that Panaracer tires are often slightly smaller than marked (i.e. a 700c 28 is more like a 25). If that is the case with these 26" tires, the 1.25 might be too narrow if they're smaller-than-marked which could affect handling in a more harsher, twitchy way. In that regard, the 1.5"s might be the ticket. But the 1.5" weigh in at 460 grams where the 1.25" weigh 300 grams.

I think I'd prefer the 1.5" for comfort/handling but the weight of the 1.25" seems attractive. Which tire would you chose?

Go with the wider tires. I think you'll enjoy the more comfortable ride, and considering the bike that they're going on, you won't much notice the weight penalty.

Also, as a point of general information, don't take the stated weight of tires as gospel (this includes our tires). This is a manufacturing target weight, which can be off by as much as (+/-) 8-10%.

Absolutely the 1.5. Not sure what rims you have, there is not a consistent depth or width to the channel, and with the 1.25 you are much closer to being too small for some of the beefier 26" rims (though you'd be fine on others)

The difference between 2.2 knobbies and 1.5 slicks will be palpable. (You'll need new tubes, too) 1.5 to 1.25 wouldn't be too significant and would introduce those negative ride +/- compatibility qualities.

You're right -- I forgot to measure my inner rim width to check for compatibility. The rims are 22mm. Looks like the 1.25" tire (which I found out actually measure to 29 mm) would just too be narrow. Perhaps they'd be fine, but I'd rather not take the risk for such little benefit.

Thanks for the help Kojack & slcbob. I'll get the 1.5"s

I had the 1.125" on my old mountain bike and they were fine. Very fast tire and as long as the pressure was kept very high, there was never a problem. Of course I had a brooks saddle....so...I never experienced discomfort

get the fat ones or get a road bike

I don't mean to go off on too big of a tangent, but since Kojak, above, is actually connected with the company, could we get the correct pronunciation of the tire manufacturer know as Schwalbe? This probably gets kicked around here in NA from time to time. I tried it out on translate.google.com to hear the pronunciation and saw an old BF thread on it from a few years back.

So, should us Anglo's go with "sh-why-VEH" if I heard it correctly.

OK, back on thread......I do have some old Specialized Nimbus' (26x1.5) on a mountain bike rim and they're pretty nimble and have lasted a long time.

I don't think so.

Guy (and others) can chime in, but if I'm not mistaken this is the German word for sparrow. I don't know any German and only have a rudimentary idea of correct German phonetics, but I was recently in Germany and while there visited a half dozen or so shops that sold Schwalbe tires and talked with them looking for a particular model. IIRC, the pronunciation they were using was something like SHVALL-beh or possibly SHVALL-bee but with much less emphasis on the 'ee' than we would use in English.

Well Andy, you're correct. And to answer the original q, I say go with wider tires, difference between mountain knobby tires and slicks is going to be substantial all by itself, and that slightly narrower tire would not make much of rolling resistance improvement over those that are a bit wider, bit it would be more substantially rougher to ride. So I vote for 1,5", although that is also on the limit for what I consider a usable city tire - on the skinny limit that is.

Only tires I consider are Schwalbe Marathon Pus in the summer and Nokian Mount and Ground W106's for the winter.
But then again I tend to do things differently than most folk.

Pretty much this^^^ or SCHVALL-buh is how it's said in Germany. The finishing "e" should be pronounced much like the finishing e in Porsche (Porsh-Uh... not porsh). But, most in North America say Schwall-bay, which works fine for us, in fact that's how we generally say it. Some folks say Sch-wobble, which we mostly find pretty funny.

Schwalbe = Swallow..... the bird.

As a native speaker, I can confirm the SHVALL-buh pronunciation.

The funniest part of my experience in Germany was trying to communicate to native German-speakers I wanted Sammy Slicks (which they didn't have) and not semi-slicks (of which that had many).

SHVALL-buh......and so it shall be. Thanks!!