Just In: Bont Zero shoes

We’ve got a brand new pair of shoes in for review in the shape of the Bont Zeros (or Zeroes, if you prefer that spelling).

We wouldn’t normally do a Just In on a pair of shoes but these are notable in a couple of ways. First, Bont Zeros are the shoes Bradley Wiggins used during his Tour de France and Olympic Games wins so they’ve got a seal of approval at the very highest level. And – what do you know? – Bont’s UK distributor, Saddleback, have a yellow Tour de France model, signed by Wiggo himself, proudly displayed in their cabinet.

Second, these shoes are a considerable investment, so we figure that if you’re thinking about buying a pair you’ll want all the information you can get. When we say ‘considerable investment’, we’re talking £390.

So, what do you get for your cash? Well, the outsole – what Bont call the ‘chassis’ – is carbon fibre and it curves right around the sides of your foot. You can see that most clearly around the heel, but what you can’t see is that there’s another couple of centimetres of carbon covered by the silver glass-fibre upper. So, it’s a bit like your foot is sitting in a moulded carbon tub.

The upper is equally distinctive. As I mentioned, it’s glass-fibre and it gets a lace closure, which is unusual for a road shoe. We’ll be interested to what that’s like out on the road; we’ve got used to ratchets, dials and Velcro straps that are easy to adjust on the fly. Then you get that aero cover over the top of the laces. It’s simply a flap that’s held in place by Velcro.

The Zeros are heat mouldable and ours weigh just 500g for the pair (that’s a size 47 which equates to a 46 in everyone else’s sizing) which is very light.

In other news from Bont, they’re now offering the Vaypor in a neon yellow finish. We reviewed the Vaypor before and loved it. We had the leather version; this one comes with a shiny microfibre upper and costs £225.

If you’re into bright colours, the Vaypor T – it’s the track cycling version although there’s no reason why you couldn’t use it on the road – comes in this vivid green.

Right, we’re off to fire up the Road.cc oven to get the Zeros moulded to shape. We’ll let you know how we get on in our review. Watch this space. In the meantime, if you want more info on the Bont range go to www.bont.com or www.saddleback.co.uk.