As soon as I got downtown today, my tire went flat. Yuck, at least it was easy to fix with my new metal tire levers, unlike the old plastic ones that kept bending and snapping off every time I tried to use them. I was hoping I would get a lot less flats with these new tires, especially after I went for a full month without a flat after I first bought them. Apparently not, I got two flats in one day last Thursday and now today I get another one. Shitty, I'm going back to buying the cheap, shitty MEC tubes rather the nice, but expensive Continentals. I'm riding on the Continental CountryRIDEs, 26X1.75. Looks like their Contact Security tires have the best puncture resistance, although this doesn't sound good: "In view of its tough construction, it is not a comfortable touring tyre with low rolling resistance".

My CountryRIDEs: 3 plies/ total 66 tpi [threads per inch].
Explorer: 3 carcass plies; 84 tpi.
TWISTER PRO: 4 carcass plies; 228 tpi.
TWISTER: 3 carcass plies; 84 tpi.
ZETA: 4 plies/ total 110 tpi.
Top Touring 2000: 5 plies/ total 213 tpi.
Contact: 4 plies/ total 240 tpi.
Travel Contact: 4 plies/ total 240 tpi.
Sport Contact: 4 plies/ total 240 tpi.

Mmmm, looks my tires have some of the lowest threads per inch of all their models, no wonder I'm still getting flats. The Sport Contact model sounds good: 'The 26" version helps the bike messenger meet those deadlines... All this added speed for your bike with zero detriment to puncture protection and reliability! Extremely fine and strong carcass plies, SafetySystem puncture protection...'. Sounds like it was made for me! From the Contact model page: "We are so convinced of its SafetySystem puncture protection that we offer a 1 year guarantee against tyre failure." Wow, that sounds good to me, where do I get these things. Even if they don't honour that guarantee for couriers, it sounds like they have a lot of confidence in their puncture resistance. I need these tires!

Looks like MEC carries the TravelContact, which does use their SafetySystem puncture protection. Cool!