"A Muzi" wrote in message ...

Yes you can switch widths within broad limits ( A 700-47 will probably not
clear your frame and a 700-20 won't last a day on a wide rim). On most fat
700 rims a 32 through 38 are fine. I do not know your rim model so I can't
say what the limits are.

32-38 sounds reasonable, I'm not sure its a good idea to push it to
extremes, beyond the original design of 700 x 35.

If your dealer has a clue s/he should be able to
make a recomendation. Do you want faster? Tougher? A softer ride? The
ability to better corner agressively?

I don't care to win any races, but less effort would be nice, because
I'm extremely lazy. Hence the reason I am looking at baldies; less
rolling resistance. The streets the bike will ride on are all paved,
but there are plenty of cracks to deal with, and often have to jump on
or off the sidewalk, so there are bumps to deal with. I don't know
that I need to corner "aggressively", because I'm not an aggresive
rider; but I want to corner -safely-, particularly in wet conditions,
if I get caught in the rain. I do not ever want to crash. It would
help if I simply knew, in general, what the advantages and
disadvantages are between "skinnier" and "fatter" tires.

Tread is completely irrelevant on a paved surface.

The Michelin Transworld City is a great urban tire, I like them lots more
than the cheap knobby o.e.m. tires on $300~$500 bikes. They're long-wearing
and smoother riding.

My original tires were Japanese-made Panaracers (Ridge Line 2). So
they weren't OEM's and they didn't seem cheap, but I'm replacing them
because I recently learned they have no business being on a bike that
is designed to ride exclusively on pavement.

That said, the siping is only there to pander to
customers' misunderstandings of tires and treads. Smooth would have been
better and Michelin knows it.

You see, THIS is why I am thinking of exchanging the Michelin
Transworld City tire that I bought. Because I only learned afterward
that tread siping only caters to ignorant cyclists; which I do not
want to be! If I can get a better tire for no more than the price of
the Transworld City, then I want to get the choice right now.

Other popular tires for your bike are Inoue-IRC's Metro 700-38 on the fat
side, Panaracer Pasela 700-35 for a medium tire and the wonderfully fast
IRC Tandem 30 if you are not a heavy or abusive rider and your route is free
of pavement anomalies. Keep the pressure up always but especially if you go
to a skinnier tire.

The Pasela is not a bald slick, it has some light treads (while the
Transworld City also has a tread, its quite a different surface than
the Pasela). So I'm wondering between the two, which is better and
why? (As for the IRC Metro, although its nearly treadless with little
siping, I only see it listed in mountain bike tire sizes (26 x ?), and
it looks like it will be near impossible for me to get at my local
dealers).