Those tyres are absolutely fine....if they made them in 26" it would be great, but gravel tyres (40ish) don't get a look in at 26".....thats a dead size...apparently
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I did think down that road, but 26" narrow with some off road grip seems a non starter. Wider yes, narrower for road yes, inbetween no.
I've got continental contact travels 1.75" (not to be mistaken with contact or contact plus..why they couldn't use a different name for different tyres god only knows) on my marin, but the centre is not very good if you go onto dirt...its basically smooth!
the hybrid is just physically bigger too which helps and with a bigger stack I'm not limited to bars i can use...which need a massive rise even with those beautiful custom stems.