Ridiculouly horribly difficult tire...

Hey Froggy, I had a tire on my son's road bike like that. I think it was a Conti, but not sure. I am the house and croup tire changer. Ended up taking it to the LBS and they also struggled for a long time with it. I think some are just tighter than others, and I don't know if it has anything to do with a wire or Kevlar bead??

Hope you NEVER get a flat.

I have the same tires (in 700c) and had the same difficulty putting them on.  Complained to a wrench friend and he said that they are notorious for being difficult to install.  They are also known to be super light and to have low rolling resistance.

From reading reviews, I am told that they do not last as long as other tires given their thin construction.

Not necessarily. I just struggled getting a set of Michelin Pro3 Race (folding) tires on, and have had wire bead tires that went on easily without levers.

ETA: Looks like the OP's Continental Grand Prix Triathlon is a folding tire as well.

It seems to me like a lack of proper standards for the different tire manufacturers.

I have had similar problems with the tire you are referring to and swapped it out for other models from Conti and even different brands  trying to find a tire that would fit better.

My new bike came with Vittoria Rubino Pro Slicks and I changed a flat for the first time on the new rims last night and it was dream. (I was almost able to do the whole thing by hand)

Seems like some models of Conti, (Folding and Wire Beaded) and just about anything made my Specialized is a real bear to put on. (No Pun intended)

My new bike came with the same tires, and never having changed a road bike tire before, I decided to do a practice run with them last night.  They're much easier than any mountain bike tires I've had.  I didn't need any tools at all.

Okay ... that was funny

Specialized Pro --- super easy. Can take on and off without help of tire levers. Aside from one bugger out of the 8 Specialized Pro tires I've owned, they've all been VERY easy.

That's good to know, I switched from Continental Ultra Gatorskins (wire-bead) to a folding bead Bontrager Lite.  The guy at the LBS tried to sell me the wire-bead version (a little heavier) but I didn't bite because I assumed my issue with the Gatorskins was the bead.  Sounds like from some fo these posts that maybe a lot of the Continental tires are tough to mount.   Too bad too, I got 4,000 miles out of the front tire, and 2k on each of the two back tires I went through with the Gatorskins.