IRC 90 psi tire versus Schwalbe marathon.

[Westinghouse]

In the old days, 1980s, I did my long tours on 90 psi, 1 1/4 inch IRC road tires. It is  zippy and smooth and quick. They will go about 1000 miles on the rear of a loaded bike by the time they wear paper-thin and POPPPPSSSSSSssssssst. Cycling from Florida to California I would use up three on the rear and two on the front, no rotations. That was as far as wear was concerned. But these tires were easily cut and punctured. A half inch cut, after repair, would bubble up and turn off the rim. The cut would enlarge. Wrappings of duct tape would get you to the bike store. From FL to CA there might have been 50 punctures, more or less. These tires were readily available in department stores, bike stores, Target They cost about $7.00.

Years later, when I started giving a damn about having better tires, I bought Schwalbe Marathon. They weigh a lot more than the IRCs. They are a little difficult to fit on the rim. They are far more durable than IRC. With these tires there were only 7 punctures from FL to CA. Debris that cut and split IRC tires did not even mark the Schwalbes. You can ride from FL to CA on one set with plenty of tread left over. You can get 4000 miles or more on a rear tire.

[gottobike]

I had a much different experience with IRC tires, but then, it was prolly not the model you used. In late 90's my Trek 520 came stock with a set of 700c IRC tires, possibly Duo Tours, and I loved them. They lasted well, delivered a relatively nice ride, handled well in both wet and dry conditions, and seemed fast and lite compared to other options. When it came time to replace, I was unable to find the same IRC tire and went with Conti's instead.
Just curious, what did the Schwalbe Marathon cost back when you were paying $7.00 for the IRC?
Maybe the model of IRC you wore out regularly on tour would have made a very nice inexpensive day tripper / commuter tire?

[froze]

I haven't done a cross country tour yet, but I read you were complaining about the weight of the tires, for which I have question, which Marathon do you have?  they make several, they make the Marathon Supreme, the Marathon Almotion, the Marathon Plus, etc, there's about 13 Marathons, so which one are you using?

[Figaro]

I used Marathon Supremes on my TransAm, running on a Trek 520 Touring bike. Loved them and would highly recommend. I'm running them now on my Trek Domane just because of the dependability...no flats in over a year. This year I bought a 2020 Salsa Cutthroat GRX 600 gravel bike for the Great Divide. However, I like it so much that when I do another cross country trip I will use that bike. I run Graveking SK Plus 43mm tires on it--good for pavement and gravel. 

[froze]

I think the Supremes are a great tire, but I think the new Almotion is just slightly better, it supposedly has less rolling resistance than the Supreme (which confuses me because the Supremes are semi smooth and the Almotion has a pretty significant tread design, plus the Supreme is lighter, weird), and the Almotion has more tread thickness to it by 1.6m more, which means it will last for more miles.  The Supreme does have better tread puncture resistance, but I'm not sure if I'm super concerned about that.

I got all that info from here, read the article for more detail if you want:  https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/tour-reviews/compare/schwalbe-marathon-almotion-2016-vs-schwalbe-marathon-supreme-2016