Weight Weenies

pk0r: How is the arch support in the shoes?

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The arch support (to me) is really excellent: a very good and natural shape. The insole itself is only 1.5mm thick.
As said all in all they feel similar to a ski boot or a bear trap around the foot. It is no romantic exaggeration when claiming that your feet don't move a single mm in any direction; you can eventually still move the toes 1-2mm up and down.

Sorry, I've been a bit busy lately but I've had a bit of a chance to use mine and I can basically agree with pk0r. Mine were drilled too far back for my cleats which has created a few issues. I had to redrill and the old hole near the ball of my foot on the right shoe has given me some numbness of the big toe of my right foot after about 50 minutes. This should be easily corrected once I get around to filling the hole so not a major issue. All around a very good shoe but the stiffness in the heel cup has taken a bit to get used to. The bulk of the inside of the shoe makes it a little hard for me to get my heel as close to the crank as I'd like which may be an issue for some. The measuring by tracing method has worked perfectly for me and as pk0r has said, essentially no movement apart from in the toebox. Walking on gravel has scratched the bottoms up like nothing else but this is purely aesthetic. Arch support is good but if you had high arches it might be a bit low for comfort. Insole is essentially non existant and really only serves the purpose of covering the cleat screws. The cleat screws can be felt through the insole with your hand but in no way can be felt whilst riding. Ventilation is not the greatest in the world, on mine the bottom row of 'holes' on the outside of the foot are actually still filled in due to the carbon behind them, purely aesthetic and serve no purpose. Essentially I have been having no discomfort and we've been getting thirty degree celsius days down here. I've come from sidis and whilst they may be a bit warmer I haven't been concious of it. Sorry about the lack of paragraphing and I hope it makes sense, I'm in a huge rush at the moemnt but thoguht I'd better share this. Any questions just yell.

There's a guy on bikeforums with a pair. I'm not sure if he posts here or not.

Well they have been around for along time.
I had a pair of their speed skates more than 10 years ago.
The build quality then was top notch.
I had a pair of simmons skates too. Also a quality product.
In my search for new cycling shoes i have ran across both options and cant make up my mind.
While quality doesnt really factor into my decision, as i feel they are both above and beyond any production model. Its had for me not to just go with tried and true sidi.
I look forward to more reviews by users.

rebizap wrote:Well they have been around for along time.
I had a pair of their speed skates more than 10 years ago.
The build quality then was top notch.
I had a pair of simmons skates too. Also a quality product.
In my search for new cycling shoes i have ran across both options and cant make up my mind. .

Simmons are full custom. Bont are heat-moldable. It seems they're at a different level.

WRT ventilation: the Bonts, to me, appear quite aerodynamic, almost like shoe covers. Compared to Sidi's with shoe covers, I suspect they're cooler.

Bonts have an attractive weight advantage versus stock shoes when used with Speedplays, as one can drill the Speedplay cleat pattern into the soles, gaining advantages in mass and stack height versue using an adapter plate.

I wore sidis for around a month in summer with shoe covers before purchasing the bonts. There was no discernable difference. Bont are also available as full custom. As far as sidi versus bont, it all comes down to yor own feet, mine are different sizes and therefore the high arch of the sidi caused me problems, which makes the bonts better for me. It's all individual really but both are of very high quality.

Does anybody have a review as to how their shoes are holding up?

Would you recommend them?

Any pictures?

They're holding up very well. I'll try and find a camera around the place soon for you. Only issue at the moment may be the carbon around the heel pad fragmenting a bit much. That's only something you see when they're off though. Also a bit worried about the rubber pad wearing out. They may only be useable for a couple of seasons befroe something needs to be done there. Pretty sure it'd be easy to drill in a hole and just screw in a conventional stop eventually. I had a bit of big toe numbness but that was related to cleat positioning so nothing to do with the shoes. They don't have the same slipper feel of the sidi due to the lack of padding but are still comfortable in their own way. They clean up extremely well and from what I can gather are waterproof. Haven't had them in the rain over two hours yet though. I'd recommend them.

Oh! I like pictures!

Mine were just shipped from the Fuzhou Guangguo Sports Equipment CO. There was a delay, because I requested Speedplay drilling, and the first pair they were going to send me were 3-hole drilled.

I just noticed some pairs are on same in the "for sale" section at a very good price.

I've recently ordered some custom Bont's. Will put up pics and report when I get them. Not too sure how long I have to wait...

I just got mine. 3 Velcro straps (no buckle) for reduced mass. The "molding" process seems to work: the shoes hug my feet fairly well, and the process was painless. The soles are exceptionally stiff. One issue: one of the threaded inserts for the cleat screws wasn't grabbing, so I epoxied it in place. Another issue: the screws are on the long side, and can be felt through the thin footbed, so I might find shorter (lighter) screws.



Some numbers:
No hardware: 226.6 g (L), 228.9 g (R)
8 Bont screws: 12.5 g
2 Speedplay cleats, no plate, no screws: 54.7 g
shoes, with cleats: 260.3 g (L), 262.8 g (R)
same, for Sidi Genus 4 w/ Superfeet footbeds, including adapter plates: 383.2 g (L), 393.3 g (R)
mass saved: 253.4 g

Wow.

Note the new removable heal and toe pads -- they no longer embed the rubber in the carbon fiber.

side on pics??
tikka

can someone say how they fit compared to shimano shoea? I wear a 44.5 in the shimano

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