I decided to do this because why not. I have just burned (literally) the 3rd PR4 so I wanted to try something different and also the thought of a wider rear on the bike has always appealed to me.
Be aware right off the bat that this tire is outside the guide lines for this rim size as far as I understand it. I believe it recommends a 185 as the upper level for our 5.5" rims. As such some people probably quite rightly recommend not to do this. However if you are interested then here is some info for you.
Firstly... a final send off for my 3rd PR4 GT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlY899sUc48General info.
OEM = 180/55 R17
What went on = Michelin Commander II 200/55 R17
I went down to the bike shop and asked them about the possibility of fitting said rim if I bought the wheel down. They were a little concerned about damaging the rim while trying to put the tire on so they wanted to see it first.
On inspection they said "yeah no problem, want it now?". Yes. yes I do. When it came out it did look pretty sweet I am happy to say, they even commented on it.
Trying to fit it to the bike wasn't quite as straight forward. My ATV jack can only go so high and the rubber was catching on the wheel studs. With the normal rubber I can slide it in and out. Not this time. If I could have lifted higher then probably no problem but I decided to stop messing around and pulled the left pipe off. No issues after that.
First visual impressions:
I understand this is all subjective but to me it became total win. It is only 20mm difference but it just hit the right spot. It is not a 240 but it doesn't look undersized anymore... it looks sweet!
Ride impressions:
I did around 550k's (341m) on Saturday and for me... well it just felt like I was riding my Valkyrie. Your mileage may vary but I don't know any other way to put it. It didn't seem to behave in any different way then normal. I know there must be some change there but perhaps the best part of half a metric tonne doesn't really care about a 10% gain in rear tire width? All I can say is I had a great ride and had it far enough over many times to be really damaging my actual pegs (I got new pegsavers on order, probably new pegs again if they don't get here soon hah). I did not run it at upper levels of speed performance but I do like to get her over on back to back corners.
Wet weather performance?:
NFI but I highly doubt they will be in the same class as the Pilot Road GT's. The PR4's had amazing wet weather grip but that will have to wait until it rains again and will update when I get to try it.
Here is a bunch of photos showing as best I could the clearances. Also there is one shot of the Speedo'/GPS. For the most part the actual road speed is spot on and I had to do some searching to find a few frames where the Speedo' and the GPS disagreed slightly.
In short for me... totally happy with the whole deal so far. I will update on long term and wet when these things occur.
Photo's:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/wqCClE7PuJjo9gUR2
