to Alex. I forgot to include tire flex and G-forces on the bike. Pressure and weight are not the only things that change the contact patch either.. What about the torque flex on the tire from the engine? Heat buildup changes the pressure (expands) during a race as well, thus changing the area that touches the pavement and melting your tires. At any given moment here are more factors than just pressure and wieght. The thread could go on and on.. My post was to initially to put that theory of '150 rear tire for cosmetics' to rest. I gotta tell you, I would say that most of us don't replace the stockers JUST to look better. I was not trying to turn " when rubber meets the road" into a debate with Stephen Hawking. Generally, when you have a wider tire, you have a wider contact patch.
If you don't beleive me, get your 130 wet and run it in a straight line..then get your 150 (with the same pressure as th 130) wet and run it in a line.. I will bet 99.9999 percent of the time that the wet print of the 150 will be wider, and wider = bigger contact patch. It isn't rocket science!
