Bont shoes

[gumgardner]

You can try studeodna.com

[geedawg]

Somewhat off topic, but a-1s and Ctt-1s (precursor of the 0's) are on bonktown for $200ish.

Love my a-1s, but couldn't get them to be as comfy for me as I liked. Great for shorter harder rides, but if there's such thing as too stiff, these are it. Going with sidi ergo 2s for longer rides...

[Johnny Rad]

I just picked up a pair of Bont Vaypors on the cheap thanks to eBay.

Out of the box, they're tight! After heat molding, they truly fit like a glove. Tight in a good way this time. I haven't ridden them yet, but I'm pretty sure they're keepers. Stay tuned for a ride report.

I've been riding a set of Bont A-1's in wide for the past two weeks. As I wrote in an earlier post above, they felt good out of the box and even better once molded. After my first ride, I did some fine-tuning with another heat molding (punching out arch on my left foot with the rounded blunt end of a screwdriver). They're definitely wide, roomy and they feel pretty good while pedaling. I've been riding with the Pearl Izumi 1:1 insoles instead of the Bont insoles, which tightened up the fit a bit in a good way - that's one major reason why I grabbed the Vaypors in the standard width. Getting the strap buckled just right wasn't easy - I was continually fiddling between tighter and looser. When standing and kicking, I could feel the wide and stiff carbon sole in all of its goodness sitting on top of the pedals. They felt different from my old Sidi 6.6's in that regard. It's cold here and the one test ride I took without shoe covers proved to me that the A-1's have plenty of ventilation.

Bont Vaypor
Size 42.5; no cleats = 522g
Left shoe only weighs ~9g more than the right.



Bont A-1
Size 42.5 Wide; no cleats = 507g
Left shoe weighs ~20g more than the right. Odd.



Comparison between A-1 and Vaypor

I've read that the Vaypor is built to a higher quality standard than the A-1, but I'm hard-pressed to notice. At best, there are one or two cosmetic glue smudges on the A-1. The Vapor has a gray Suede L liner (whatever that is!) in place of the black plasticy liner on the A-1, but I don't think anything was wrong with the A-1. On both shoes, the velcro straps are largely irrelevant for fit thanks to the giant carbon wrap-around "bathtub." The insoles are different, but neither are much to write home about. The A-1 insole looks like it was hand-cut whereas the Vaypor insole looks rather commercial. They're both wafer thin and about the same width despite the A-1 being wide and the Vaypor being standard width. The big difference in width was looking at the carbon soles on A-1 and Vaypor upside down.









Two pairs of Bonts for the price of one. Christmas in February!

[Heisenberg]

Somewhat off topic, but a-1s and Ctt-1s (precursor of the 0's) are on bonktown for $200ish.

Love my a-1s, but couldn't get them to be as comfy for me as I liked. Great for shorter harder rides, but if there's such thing as too stiff, these are it. Going with sidi ergo 2s for longer rides...

The A-1s and CTT-1s are mostly gone. There weren't a lot in stock. I bought a pair of CTT-1s, rode twice, hated 'em, eBayed them.

Had a pair of the A-3s last year that I loved performance-wise, but had garbage QC issues Bont was very reluctant to deal with.

[addicted]

Somewhat off topic, but a-1s and Ctt-1s (precursor of the 0's) are on bonktown for $200ish.

Love my a-1s, but couldn't get them to be as comfy for me as I liked. Great for shorter harder rides, but if there's such thing as too stiff, these are it. Going with sidi ergo 2s for longer rides...

The A-1s and CTT-1s are mostly gone. There weren't a lot in stock. I bought a pair of CTT-1s, rode twice, hated 'em, eBayed them.

Had a pair of the A-3s last year that I loved performance-wise, but had garbage QC issues Bont was very reluctant to deal with.

You say you loved the A-3's but hated the CTT-1's. What was the difference that made you dislike them??

[Heisenberg]

Somewhat off topic, but a-1s and Ctt-1s (precursor of the 0's) are on bonktown for $200ish.

Love my a-1s, but couldn't get them to be as comfy for me as I liked. Great for shorter harder rides, but if there's such thing as too stiff, these are it. Going with sidi ergo 2s for longer rides...

The A-1s and CTT-1s are mostly gone. There weren't a lot in stock. I bought a pair of CTT-1s, rode twice, hated 'em, eBayed them.

Had a pair of the A-3s last year that I loved performance-wise, but had garbage QC issues Bont was very reluctant to deal with.

You say you loved the A-3's but hated the CTT-1's. What was the difference that made you dislike them??

Bont changed something up, or my feet changed. The sizing between years was definitely different. I rode 45s in the A3, they fit perfectly. The 46 in the CTT-1 was very snug, and it may have played a part in me losing feeling in my feet on rides. I could've gone for a 46.5, but didn't really want to risk having the same thing happen and wasn't thrilled about the supposed quality improvements between years.

I think I'll be giving some Northwave Evolutions a shot, or possibly a pair of SIDIs.

[addicted]

Great...
decided I wanted to give them one more try. I previously had A-1 45's (purchased around May 2010). I ordered a pair of the CTT-1's off bonktown in 45, so I assume they are gonna be too small..

[Robroyski]

@Johnny Rad


What size SIDI's were you using?

[Johnny Rad]

Sidi 6.6 = size 43
Bont A-1 and Vaypor = size 42.5

[Heisenberg]

Great...
decided I wanted to give them one more try. I previously had A-1 45's (purchased around May 2010). I ordered a pair of the CTT-1's off bonktown in 45, so I assume they are gonna be too small..

Bonktown has a NQA return policy...try them on and if they don't fit, send 'em back. They do have 46.5s still in the CTT-1 and A-1s.

[naisan]

The A-1s and CTT-1s are mostly gone. There weren't a lot in stock. I bought a pair of CTT-1s, rode twice, hated 'em, eBayed them.

Had a pair of the A-3s last year that I loved performance-wise, but had garbage QC issues Bont was very reluctant to deal with.

Can echo this issue with poor QA - I had to re-drill the soles of my A-1s myself after Bont gave me the runaround when told that their brand new shoes were drilled so far off that no cleats could be bolted on! Instead of helping me they kept on asking what cleats had been on the shoes before, as I guess they didn't read the part about "NEW" or didn't know what "NEW" means.

In addition, the backing nut "plates" (the round ones with the spikes that dig into the inside of the sole anchoring the nut) also popped out all too easily as they were simply placed into the hole and could easily tear out the soft inner part of the sole.

For a $59.95 shoe that would be sad, for a $400 shoe? Great way to anger people who were foolish enough to trust Bont with their money.

Sadly, it doesn't help that they don't have a support telephone number, as the people answering email can't read very well, and don't seem to care much about the product or their reputation.

I had heard that they changed their US distributor and so had tried both before and after to get Bont to fix their mistake - struck out 2x.

I like the stiffness of the sole of the A-1s, and am basically going to ride them until they're worn out as I can't return them (I paid full price for mine and feel like a sucker now), and probably go back to the specialized's that I wore before them, or try Sidis. . .

No surprise that the A-1 and other Bont's are now being blown out at bonktown/ebay for 189/ (or $99 with an easily located online coupon). I wouldn't be too surprised if they totally remodel their cycling line or exit the market next, given these discount levels (75% discount) and lack of support for existing customers.

[wojchiech]

I feel sorry for the people who have had problems with the build quality of the shoe. My A1s seem fine and fit me well - for the most part...


Anybody having problems with the straps being too short? Even on the last notch they are a bit tight for me. The fit of the shoe everywhere else is fine, but it is just the strap that is making the shoe unpleasant to wear for longer periods of time.

Does anybody have any solutions for this? perhaps a longer strap? If only the straps were 10mm longer, these shoes would be perfect for me. I've resorted to doing surgery on the straps and making another notch at the very end of the strap by the buckle, and even shaved off a bit of the strap on the other end where it's attached to the shoe - but they still fit uncomfortably tight. I've also tried to fit my old Sidi straps on, but oddly enough they are almost exactly the same length.

Thanks for any insight/help.

[addicted]

Are you putting a large volume orthotic in your shoe? I thought most people were having the opposite problem, had troube getting the tight enough before running out of ratchet..

[Johnny Rad]

I've been told that Bont offers longer straps. If you're in NA, contact: info@bicitech.ca

I recall reading there's another option. It's probably in this thread. Modify Sidi's buckle and/or strap to work on the Bonts.

Before I heat molded my Bonts, the straps were uncomfortably short. Just as you describe, they were barely long enough to get a single click in the buckle. Upon heat molding my A-1's, the buckle took a much better position becoming flush against the shoe rather than oddly sticking out away from the side of the shoe. All I did was heat the shoes, put them on and ratchet the buckle tight. This seemingly small change with the buckle made the straps plenty long.

However, I'll bet that you already heat molded your shoes ... so this "advice" probably isn't helpful.

Good luck!

[rustychain]

Just a few notes. I have lost count of how many times I've cooked these critters but at last I have perfection. Really, I almost tossed them in the trash a few times. 250 miles last week and never noticed my shoes.

I ended up stretching the straps to far but found that by heating the shoe and not sticking my foot in it it reverted close to it's normal dimensions. Wahoo! The straps now fit!
Will I buy Bont's again? Well I'm going to try a custom shoe. Bont's are a PIA but if custom shoes are not better I will try Bonts again.