+1 for Schwalbe tires. Both the Duranos (more like a Gatorksin, but roll faster & better grip on wet/slippery — wonderful winter tire) and the Schwalbe One (and Pro One). My experience has been that the Pro One are less durable than the “non-Pro” One tires, though their marketing claims they are more puncture resistant (they are also a lot lighter, though, so it wasn’t entirely clear to me how they were doing that).
The Pro One are a lot nicer rolling, though, so I’m just going to run those on my commuter (in 28mm). With 28mm tires and Stans sealant small punctures have been good about sealing themselves. Larger punctures can be plugged without removing tire but more significant punctures/tears will require putting in a tube. The nice thing is that even if you do have to put in a tube, you don’t need to fuss over finding where the previous tube punctured [since there wasn’t a previous tube]; a hole large enough to require a tube won’t be a secret thorn sticking in the tire. Of course, the downside is that you’ll end up with a sealant mess when you do pull off the tire to add the tube.
These Schwalbe tires can be had for $35-45 per tire (shipped) from Europe. Or $60-80/tire retail around here.
Generally *road* tubeless does not require special rims, though rims without a deeper center channel can make mounting tighter tires difficult. Tubeless tires are often on the tighter side and the kevlar beads are reinforced so are gonna be less stretchy. (I’m suspecting yours don’t have said channel, given the mounting woes w/ the Contis). Anyway, if you want to consider the tubeless option, I’d be happy to tape up your rims. You’ll also need sealant (e.g. Stans), available at most bike shops [that I’ve been to] in the area. And valve stems (just cut them out of old tubes). So it’s a bit of a commitment, but it has been really worth it for me on the commuter — haven’t had to put in a tube since going tubeless (6k miles? a couple/few of would-have-been flats that sealed up.).
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