First, I have never ridden on or owned Conti Ultra Sports. But in the past I owned both Conti Sport, and Super Sport tires, both of which are lower end wire bead general riding type tires. I never had one last nearly long enough to wear their tred. They were in 3 cases destroyed by side wall snags, and in one case a complete tread cut through. I never had this happen with ANY other brand of tires. With all due respects to the many riders who compete on and train and ride on higher end Conti's which I have no knowledge of at all, I think that Continental makes very inferior low end wire beads. I never buy Continentals any more. As to alternatives on the low end: Vittoria Zaffiro's are stout long wearing tires, good flat resistance, that handle well with slightly higher rolling resistance. The down side is that they are built somewhat tight, and can be very difficult to mount on some rims. Specialized Tri Sports were fine for about 1000miles then came the flats, and the tread cuts. Gave up on them after a 3 week period when I had 5 flats and replace 3 tubes and the rear tire. Now I am using Vredestein Ricorsos, being sold at low prices and like them a lot, but don't have enough miles to predict tire life. So far so good on the flats. Good luck in your search to find the perfect tire, I'm still looking!
