Hi guys
my opinion is the tyre choice doesnt effect the handling in the way most people look at it.
If you take a 5.5inch rim and put at 170 tyre on it the width looking at the rear end doesnt change alot.What does change is the contact pad on the ground surface.The 170 tyre will have a even footprint at all angles.
Next if we move to 180 tyre on same rim the width remains only couple of mm wider instead of 10mm.What changes more is the tyre gets pulled in more than the 170 tyre.This means less rubber when bike upright.As you lean the footprint becomes larger than the 170 tyre hence more grip on extreme lean angles.
Next if you were to squeeze 190 on the rim(which goes on ok trust me)the contact patch gets even less when upright but now the tyre is wildly distorted and you have to get the lean angle beyond safe operation of the tyre to get the even larger footprint.Therefore the 190 is not a good choice as it may work great arround corners for a while but if you consistantly get it over to the big footprint you will come of at some point.Its a game of chance and probability.
I think that until you get well out of the recommended tyre size for a rim the width that you look at the back of your bike does not alter to much.its the rim that dictates the width.This is my version of tyre width with low profile 55 tyres.
If the profiles were taller the width would change more.
Tip in times are not effected by tyre size as much as rim size and tyre type.(v tyre as oposed to d tyre).D being round and V being pointed sports tyre.
Then again I could be full of it.Please let me know.
