I guess one could, but why would you? I have just taken delivery of a set of Compass Rat Trap tyres: very light and fast 53 mm wide 26 inch tyres. Narrow tyres are faster at Tour de France speed and on new tarmac, but in all other conditions they are measurably slower. They are also less comfortable with worse grip. Wider tyres extend your range onto roads and trails that you would otherwise avoid. During the last two summers I have toured from Italy to the Netherlands and from the Czech Republic to Holland, in both cases largely through Germany, and the German long distance cycle routes are fantastic, but the large sections on forest trails etc do assume wider tyres. I had 26x1.75 tyres, and though doable (with light camping gear) it persuaded me to go a size wider. A few years ago I did a tour in Norway with long streches of gravel roads. It was earily beautiful, but not at all doable on anything narrower than about 35 mm. I was glad with my 48 mm tyres.