Originally Posted by Wide Glide 25

The one mechanic used a michrometer to show me 10 mm for overall and 5mm which is what the extra width that would be on each side of the tire. It's not a noticeable difference at all.
I'm not switching to get a bigger look. I'm just sick of wearing out Pirellis at 4 to 5K miles and I refuse to pay $300 for that stock piece of **** dunlop. I've went through two tires a year running the night dragons. After seeing what the difference is on the michrometer I'm not the slightest bit concerned about the bead. With that being said, I probably wouldn't go as far as a 200 but I personally am not worried about switching to a 190 Avon for the back of my wide glide. To each his own.

Originally Posted by Tat2u

5.5" rim is the minimum recommended rim width for a 200mm tire, this comes from the tire manufacturers

Originally Posted by FXDWG12

Brother, I don't doubt what you say. But I find it very hard to believe that you accomplished this safely. I've done a lot of research on this. The "Wall" that I couldn't overcome was the 4.5" wide wheel. "Most" tire manufacturers specify a 170 size tire for this size wheel. These manufacturers would tell you that you are already taking a risk buy using their 180 tire. There are only ( 3 ) tires that I have found that are specifically designed for a 180 size tire to mount to a 4.5" wheel. So, either the seller had no clue about this design. Or you did some serious convincing ( and accepted all responsibilities ). The Michelin website doesn't publish enough detailed tire specifications to make a reasonable assement.