Bont a-one

Price Paid:  $0.00

Bike Setup:
colonago EPS, Campagnolo 11sp

Summary:
To sum up.... Performance is second to none...super stiff, light as a feather and you feel like you are locked to the bike.
However, for this amount of spend would expect better quality.
Though shoes are mouldable, take note on how they fit when you are trying them on for size as moulding will only enhance foot feel and position, though will not add better padding for comfort. I have found that for short stint track rides...fantastic....though for distance rides is questionable for comfort due to lack of padding.
Climbing.... I find these shoes are great and no slip or flex, transfer of power is apparent
In other words.... if you are only looking for performance rather than durability and quality buy these... if not and you want both, go back to Sidi Ergo 2 carbons (my other shoes, though sadly everyone has them...hence why they are the shoes of choice for contador, basso etc...)

Strengths:
Stiff, mouldable, power transfer, good climbing shoe. performance, light

Weaknesses:
ugly compared to other shoes in this price range, quality is terrible, comfort for long distance can be uncomfortable

Similar Products Used:
sidi, bontrager, mavic

Price Paid:  $190.00 at Contender Bicycles

Favorite Ride:
Alpine Loop

Bike Setup:
Aluminum crit machine with Zipp 303s.

Summary:
This review is for the Bont A3, the fiberglass version of their cycling shoes without a buckle closure.

I picked these up after reading about them online, getting sold on the semi-custom aspect, and feeling how light/stiff they were for the cost in person. They were great, until they started having issues. The walking pads came off in a matter of days. I rectified this with a cut up MTB dirtjumping tire epoxied to the shoe, much to Bont's (eventual, after a warranty) chagrin. Second, the cleat bolt t-nuts (you know, the things in the shoe your cleats bolt to) popped out after a cleat change. Unlike most shoes which use sliding nuts mounted in an enclosed layer in the sole, the Bont t-nuts simply use short-toothed grippers in the soft rubber sole to hold the nuts in place. This makes for a very fragile setup, and it seems like they can only take a couple cleat mountings before they come loose, never to be able to hold a cleat bolt tight again.

In any case, my awesome shop warrantied them once. Bont took a month and a half to send them back, "repaired". No such luck. Immediately upon mounting my cleats the nuts popped out again. Brought them back to the shop, got a new pair of A3s they had (which were the same size as my old ones, yet fit smaller). I rode them twice, realized my cleat bolts were too long (you'll notice that because of the low sole stack height, you need to run shortened cleat bolts to keep from feeling them). Tried to switch out for shorter bolts, and the nuts popped out again. I said to hell with it, bought some cheap Northwaves, and the shop took the shoes back.

Sorry Bont - your shoes are rad, when they work. I can't in my right mind give a good value or overall rating to a shoe that will have you SOL for most of the time.

Strengths:
-Stiff
-Light
-Semi-custom
-Relatively cheap (The A3s)

Weaknesses:
-Terrible quality
-Terrible warranty service

Similar Products Used:
Specialized S-Works, Northwave whatevers, Sidi, etc.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Another bad review for Bont's customer service. Ordered a pair of A-1 from my LBS, the owner of which does a great job on getting customers what they need. When he placed my order, the Bont rep asked if I wanted 3-hole or 4-hole speedplay drilling? I took the speedplay. I also needed a narrow, which is an option with Bont (at least according to their website). I was told '6 weeks', which I thought was reasonable given the order. 4.5 months later? Nothing, and neither the bike shop owner nor the rep could get me an estimate on when the shoes might be done. "How about 3-hole drilling?". No response from Bont on that request either. I finally canceled the order, and sent Bont a curt email explaining my experience. I got a reply from Claire in their customer service dept asking for more details on the transaction, which I replied to. That was two weeks ago, and I haven't heard another peep.

The most maddening part of this is that since I placed the order in March, I've seen numerous advertisements for several new models from Bont, and the shoes are starting to show up in the catalogs of large mail order houses.......they can build new models and color packages, yet can't fill an existing order. Not only can they not fill an order, but they can't even correspond with a customer and give an estimated arrival time. Not much of way to run a business which apparently prides itself on building 'custom shoes'.

Price Paid:  $399.00 at all3 Sports

Favorite Ride:
Any

Bike Setup:
Lynskey Helix

Summary:
Good looking, comfortable and power transfer sum up this shoe. Pedaling on the flats was similiar to other mfg's, yet pulling up on the rolling hills, I felt the shoes connected to my foot & no heel slippage! Attacking on hills was a revelation. My bike acted like it was like half the tour on HGH, as it went straight and fast. I truly believe I could see 3-5% better power transfer.

Strengths:
Stiff, Unique, Custom Molded Foot bed, great power transfer

Weaknesses:
Other than pricing, nothing. Factoring I should get 3yrs of use, cost per year is only $165.

Similar Products Used:
Sidi, Louis Garneau, Specialized

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
The best shoe available. May take a couple of moldings and heat gun in spots to dial it in due to the carbon basket and how high it comes up but once they are dialed in they can not be beat. I tried my old carbon soled shoes after about 4 months on my Bont A1's just to see if I noticed a difference....I determined I can never ride another shoe again. I could feel the pedal, the shoe flexing, like I was losing power.

Strengths:
Stiffness
weight
stack height
cost (show me another shoe this moldable below $500)

Weaknesses:
You have to have some patience and get them molded to your feet before you say you dont like them.

Similar Products Used:
There is nothing like this