The
Golden shoe Man
Alexander
Bont inherited his parents' love of speed skating and was selected for the Australian team to compete at the Nagano Olympics in 1998. A bout of glandular fever forced his withdrawal only weeks before the event. "I think it took me three years to recover from the heartbreak," he recalls.
This bout of glandular fever proved the catalyst for a change of direction in Alexander Bont's career, and cycling is the winner.
Alexander Bont might well be described as the Comeback Kid. This is, after all, a man who swallowed the disappointment of having to pull out of an Australian Olympic team only to carve out a new career as a cobbler to the world's cyclists.
It's a career that has yielded a mother lode of gold - six gold medals at the Beijing Olympics. And as the renown of the company's custom-made, carbon-fibre-soled shoes grows, the demand from the stars of the cycling world is also likely to grow, particularly those with an eye to the London Games in 2012.
But Bont's commercial interests lie well beyond just the professional circuit. The company is now producing shoes for cyclists at all levels, a smart move when you consider that aesthetics and functionality are the key requisites of all riders. And, according to the company, the cycling shoes are the fastest-growing sector in the business.
In some respects, the development of a cycling shoe was a natural progression for a company that started off life as a manufacturer of hand-made speed skates. It began, as companies often do, out of a need.
Long hours of cycling had been one of the elements of his training regimen and as Alexander began to contemplate a life after skating, he considered the design of a cycling shoe that would be as unique as the Bont speed skate.
"There are so many things that make our shoe special," he enthuses. "It is not made in the traditional way. Most manufacturers make the base first, whereas we start from the inside out. Everything is laminated together by the epoxy resin so it forms a one-piece shoe. It's impossible to pull our shoes apart. Our process is a lot more time-consuming and costly but the product is better."
The custom-made shoe costs $549 for the regular one - the A1 - which is available in eight colors and has a 100 per cent carbon sole. This is also available in a semi-custom model for $50 more. There is a cheaper model on the market - the A2 - that is a mix of fibreglass and carbon fibre. Retailing at $399, it has a 4.2 mm high stack (the thickness of the sole where the clete is) compared with the A1's 3.6 mm.
Bont will release a new entry-level shoe - yet to be named but cheaper again - during the second half of the year. All the shoes are all heat-mouldable
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According to the general manager of Bont Cycling, Steven Nemeth, the stiffness of the shoe is one of its most distinctive qualities. "Aesthetics and functionality are very important to cyclists at all levels and we more than meet those criteria," he says.
Full story and pictures
Making The Shoe at
http://www.bontcycling.com
1. THE LAST
Data from 20,000 laser foot scans are used to develop a standard last.
2. THE FOOTBED
This is the first part of the shoe added to the last. It is 65A hardness and only 3mm thick which makes it lightweight and heat-mouldable.
3. THE LINER
It is not only lightweight and strong but it fights odour and is not easily broken down by sweat.
4. MEMORY FOAM
Closed-cell so it will not absorb moisture and is lightweight.
5. ANTI-STRETCH TAPES
These tapes are similar to seatbelt material and ensure the boot does not stretch over time.
6. CARBON FIBRE
Cross-weave 3K 198-gram aircraft-grade carbon is used on the outside and unidirectional carbon on the inside.
7. THE UPPER
Rubber carbon protectors are added front and rear and covered with the final layer of carbon. The lightweight upper is then glued and sewn onto the shoe. Holes are hand-punched through the uppers and the liner for ventilation. Buckles and straps are attached. The location of the straps is such that they pull the foot down and into the back of the shoe.
Dan Lloyd has grown as a rider with
Bont, and rode superbly today for silver.
www.London-2012-Olympics-The-Gme-Has-Changed.org