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TECH NEWS

Product News: When Cycling Shoes Attack!

Bont unleash the Crono what they claim is the world's first time trial specific cycling shoe

We very nearly dropped our chocolate biscuits when we saw this pop up earlier from London bike shop Condor Cycles and they were obviously scratching their heads, slack-jawed too because the message read "Bont TT shoe - thoughts?"

Cycling shoemakers Bont "Proudly Australian since 1975" are not unfamiliar to us in the sense that we have taken loads of photographs of their shoes at the international shows and we've noticed them on the feet of numerous professionals not least office favourite Cervelo Test Team's Thor Hushovd. But we can't say the company's presence has been anything other than low-key in the UK.

They do make some extraordinary-looking shoes which we have admired in a kind of well-that's-OK-for-pros kind of way and they do make a big thing about their custom heat-moulding process which adapts each shoe to the peculiarities of your foot. But then for £350 you'd hope so.

This new aerodynamic, all carbon-fibre Crono time-trial-specific shoe, however, really gets our attention because once you're over the initial "What the....." moment they do make sense in concept. After all, jet fighters, speed boats and Lamborghinis are shaped the way they are to cheat the wind and as Bont point out,  "your feet are the fastest moving part of a bike."  Or something.  Just like a Lamborghini owner, you won't be needing to ask how much but we did and they're £400.

We have a hunch there will be some of Condor's literally well-heeled customers hurtling along the principal A-roads of the home counties in the early mornings this summer, wearing these.

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11 comments

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jezzzer | 13 years ago
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I think they look cool. But I would like to take issue with the claim that the feet are the fasting moving bit of the bike .... unless they are using a bike where the crank length exceed the radius of their wheels!

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stuke | 13 years ago
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size 10 by the way, if you need a pair tested!!  4

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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What with these and the fact they are now sponsoring the Kuota-road.cc cycling team (so popular it wasn't worth putting them in our poll of the most popular cycling teams) world domination will surely follow

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nick_rearden | 13 years ago
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G-bitch, I was thinking of their profile in terms of actual shoes at retailers but, you're right, it could be argued that they're making their name by letting the shoes do the talking - to mangle a metaphor horribly - and let the demand sort itself out. If enough people ask for them, shops will stock 'em, that's for sure. But we're talking pretty exotic kit here, for most people. And that was a good "point" about front wheel overlap jova 54 although I suppose time-triallists hope not to have to perform too many of those crossovers fixie-stylee.

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G-bitch | 13 years ago
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I'd have thought Bont would have a slightly higher UK profile given the amount of big name users on the track and road... like Wiggo for a start!

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Martin Thomas | 13 years ago
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That boat's outrageous! The technical specs say it has three gas turbine engines each producing 5600 horsepower, which enables it to cover 380 nautical miles at 60 knots using 58 litres of fuel PER NAUTICAL MILE! The tanks take 22,000 litres of fuel!

Give me a sailing boat any day...

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jova54 | 13 years ago
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Wally power, almost as good as the +watt stand at Cycle Europe (?) last year.  4

Shoes look a bit pointy for my rather large plates. I'd have to be timing my pedal strokes and steering to ensure that the toe box didn't foul the front wheel!

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
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The Wally Power 118!!? If I spent mega or even giga-wedge (that would appear to be the right terminology) on a boat I'd expect a better name that  13

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neilwheel | 13 years ago
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Hit the nail on the head there, Nick.

These would be just the thing for the morning burn-up from Highgate to the City. They're sure to knock at least 10 seconds off your PB to the office and may be just the edge you need to finally beat that kid in the Tesco fleece on the Raleigh Arena.

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nick_rearden | 13 years ago
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This was the boat brought to mind for me

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cat1commuter | 13 years ago
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Look cool. The shape reminds me of a stealth ship. But when I read that they're "all carbon fibre" I can't help thinking that other materials may be better suited to fabricating some parts of a shoe.

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