What's easier to change: largest or smallest tire for rims that support multiple sizes? I have a set of rims which state their size is:

26 x 1.50/1.75

Which I believe means I could take tires which are any:


26 x 1.50 (40-559)
26 x 1.625 (44-559)
26 x 1.75 (47-559)


The new tires I am going to buy are relatively stiff / tough, but I also frequently have to do roadside tire pulls and tube repairs.

Which size tire would provide the easiest hand-pull off and on the rim, the largest or smallest available size?
I actually run two tyres identical except for the width, and when I first fitted them it made no difference at all to the difficulty. My situation is a little different: they're marathon plus 28 and 32 mm (700c).

There's much more variation between brands, types, and maybe even batches, with anti puncture tyres generally harder to get on/off than cheap multi purpose tyres and some coming up big, some small (which makes a big difference) 

To be honest though, if the time to take a tyre off and change the tube is significant, something else is wrong. I've just had my first puncture in over 3000 miles on fairly rubbish tarmac, for example.