Quality control IS key, but you should not dismiss any tyre manufacturer just out of hand as being poor and plump for a name brand believing you will automatically be making a better choice, you may not be.
I have known of IRC personally for over 30 years. They are a very professional outfit.
I work within the motorcycle tyre industry (not for IRC) for a top ten world tyre producer so I tend to know the history of and good/bad points about most motorcycle tyre manufacturers. They
all have their problems. They all have their good points. All have R&D usually based within Europe and/or the USA. The best R&D guys "float" between the smaller and the larger company's much as the best bankers float between different banks. The Dunlop top dog development guy one year could be the Maxxis top dog the next and vice-versa.
IRC are a very reputable Japanese based company that have manufactured and still manufacture hundreds of thousands of tyres for OE fitment on many Japanese motorcycles.
Some of the "lesser" names actually have higher quality control standards and work with premium materials because they have to. People will dismiss a faulty Michelin (for example) as a one off problem and not shun the brand - like when one of their premium motorcycle radials de laminated and warranted a huge recall a few years back.
A faulty batch like that for a smaller motorcycle tyre company could put them out of business, so pretty much to a man they make sure it does not happen.
The car side is different, but the motorcycle side has very tight manufacturing regimes and very high standards. The truly wise man will judge the tyre itself, not just the manufacturer
