HISTORY
Bont Skates was founded in Sydney in 1975 when Inze Bont, a recreational short track ice speed skater decided to fiberglass the back of his leather speed skates to gain more support. Bont quickly became the world's largest producer of ice speed skates and then branched out into inline speed skates, quad speed skates, roller derby skates, and long track speed skates. Bont was the first footwear manufacturer to use exotic material like fiberglass in 1974, Kevlar in 1986 and Carbon Fiber in 1989, and the first to use heat moldable resins and thermoplastics. Bont was also the first company to use adjustable ice blades and remains the world's largest producer of speed skates and custom speed skates.
SKATE TECHNOLOGY
Bont Skates is famous for pioneering every major boot advancement adopted by other skate manufacturers in the industry today. Bont was the first footwear manufacturer to use materials like fiberglass in 1974, Kevlar in 1986 and Carbon Fiber in 1989, and the first to use heat moldable resins and thermoplastics. Bont Skates invented heat moldable boots and was the first ice skate company to make skates where the blade and frame could be adjusted on the boot. Bont was the first skate company to use lace covers, velcro, and aluminum strengtheners in the boots. We push the limits of technology in ice speed skates, short track skates, roller skates, inline speed skates, and roller derby skates to help you perform at your best.
CARBON FIBER
We source our carbon exclusively from the world's #1 carbon manufacturer, Toray of Japan. The carbon base of Bont inline skate boots is made by hand by sandwiching different types of carbon. The fibers are hand laid in the matrix according to the strain they will have to bear. The carbon is embedded with epoxy thermosetting resin.
SKATE FOAM PADDING
Unlike most brands of inline skates, Bont exclusively uses closed cell memory foam in our skate production. Most brands of inline skates use open-cell foam which is cheaper and absorbs water. Closed-cell foam does not absorb your sweat or water that you may skate through. This keeps your inline skates free of moisture.
SKATE RESIN DEVELOPMENT
Formulating a resin for inline skates and inline speed skates that is super stiff yet becomes moldable at low temperatures and has a fast cure time is critical for our unique requirement which is why we are probably the only inline skate manufacturer who develops our own resins in-house. Our resin becomes soft at just 60°C (140°F) which is the lowest in the industry. Once you heat the resin, mold the boot, and let it set, it is permanently set without the need to remold the skate. You can also reheat the skate's resin as many times as you like. The temperature of the air and the amount of humidity are critical in determining the amount of hardener that needs to be added to the skate's resin. That is why we have a computer that mixes the skate's resin and hardener together and dispenses the resin after measuring the air temperature and humidity. Most manufacturers use a process known in the industry as pre-preg. This is where the resin is "pre-impregnated" into the carbon fiber. In virtually all applications, the resin is chosen by the carbon fiber manufacturer, not by the skate manufacturer. The inline skate manufacturer has no way of altering the resin to meet the heat moldability requirements of modern skates and that is why they require very high temperatures to make the skates slightly heat moldable..
ONE PIECE SKATE CONSTRUCTION
Bont Skate's method of producing our high-end inline skates and inline speed skates a method we call One-Piece Construction. This process is far more skill-intensive, time-consuming and thus resulting in far greater costs than the current mainstream inline speed skate construction method, but one that allows the Bont range of inline skates to lead the market in performance. A two-piece boot is made when the base is pre-made and then the liner and outer skin are glued onto the base. Much of the stitching on a two-piece inline skate boot is purely cosmetic. A two-piece inline skate boot can have nicer looking stitching because the stitching is done before the boot is made and it serves no purpose. Bont high end and mid-range inline skate boots are all made using the one-piece construction as well as some of the entry-level skates. Using the one-piece construction method, the outer skin of the inline skate boot is stitched to the anti-stretch material that has been bonded into the carbon. This ensures your inline skates or inline speed skates do not stretch over time. This process was pioneered in the production of Bont custom speed skates.
CUSTOM SKATES
Bont has produced more custom inline speed skates than all other skate manufacturers combined. Bont is famous for producing custom inline speed skates, custom short track speed skates, custom long track speed skates, custom quad speed skates, custom roller skates, and custom roller derby skates. Our production time is between 3-8 weeks to produce skates made around a mold of your feet. We can accept molds made by plaster, laser scan, or our original molding socks with carbon molding box.
INLINE, QUAD AND ROLLER DERBY WHEELS
Bont Skates in partnership with the world's best wheel manufacturers such as MPC develops the best inline quad and roller derby wheels in the world. Our wheels are famous for pushing the boundaries of technology especially with the use of aluminum hubs. Wheels such as the Royal assassin roller skate wheel, the Red Magic Hard Core 125mm wheel and the Avenger 110mm are the best wheels in their respective fields. Our high-end inline speed skate wheels use a dual durometer pour.
INLINE SPEED SKATING FRAMES
Bont Skates uses some of the most exotic materials such as carbon fiber and 7050 aerospace-grade aluminum to produce our inline speed skating frames. All inline racing frames are first tested by the most advanced computer-aided frame stress testing on the market before being tested in the real world by our professional inline speed skating team.
THE BEST SKATE BEARINGS
We insist on only producing the best inline and roller skate bearings in the world. We partner with the best bearing producers such as Jesa of Switzerland to produce our inline skate bearings. We go the extra mile using premium hardened steel, we double polish the inner race and we use extremely precise balls. The inline skate bearings come with light racing oil rather than grease. We produce ceramic bearings, 608, 167, 688, abec 7 and abec 5 inline skate bearings. These bearings make a perfect replacement skate bearing for your inline skates.
SKATE ACCESSORIES
We have a wide range of inline skate and inline speed skate accessories including bearing press pullers, 608 and 688 bearing cleaner, bags and backpacks, wheel bags, skate innersoles, water bottles, ezeefit, laces, skate Allen key, toe guard protector, inline skate helmet, skate buckle kit, replacement buckle kit, and skate mounting bolts.
SKATE APPAREL
Our roller derby, quad, short track, long track and inline skate apparel consists of: inline racing suits, warmup jackets, compression tights, caps, hats and t-shirts.
