Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bont Jet review

Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Almaty, Cologne, Paris, Budapest, Szeged - that is a 7250-mile trip that my new Bont Jet 2010 (3pt 100mm) has travelled. But it has finally arrived in 5 days!
Upon receiving I opened the box like a kid opens a Christmas gift. The boots, frames, wheels, bearings were all separated, there was a wrench included, too. Yohooo, Lego! :) Oh and a small gift, a wrapper for a soft drink plastic bottle that helps it make cool. Cool :)
It was fun to put all the parts together but when I put the boots on I quickly realized that they needed some melting before first use. Another strange thing I've noticed was the opening of the boot was quite narrow so putting my feet in them was not easy at all.
I was excited to put the boots in the oven. I have to admit I was also a bit nervous as I have never done such a thing before. I was a little bit worried not to overheat the boots so I kept on checking them every 3 or 4 minutes. After 20-22 minutes I decided to put them on. The next challenge was to stand in low position for quite some time. Nevertheless a chair in front of me helped to stay low for long enough but still it was almost a good static thigh-workout :)
I put the frames on again, in a neutral position and took the skates on a ride. However my first test session was plagued by my injury I have suffered the previous week when I fell on gravel. That's caused big pain in my os sanctum and it still made it hard to push my right leg properly to the side. However I simply couldn't wait and so I managed to skate about 2 miles. The test was good enough to make me sure that I had to melt the boots again. My main problem was in my left foot around my navicular bone that sticks out a little bit more than normal - due to my mid-serious flat foot. This time I've tried to put more pressure on the inner side of my feet to make more space for that bone.

The next test drive was much more enjoyable. Although the boot still annoyed my navicular bone - it went away after 5 minutes, I think mostly because I tried to skate as much on the outer edge as I could.
Generally I feel this is a brutally good piece of hardware. Due to the 3-point styling the centre of gravity remains very low. I was worried of the 84mm->100mm change beforehand, but it was literally impossible to tell the difference, as the skates are so stable, not wobbling, not showing any kind of shakiness! The length of the frame makes me go back and re-learn skating, but as this was the shortest frame, I should try to skate better :)
Now I am after the 4th melting already, I've put a small foot arch support in the left boot. I've cut off the toe- and the heel part of it, so it should affect only the (missing) arch of my foot, without lifting my foot in other areas. I still feel that damn navicular bone after longer skating sessions, but I am a little bit at a loss what I should do. Maybe I'll try to heat only that area with a hair-dryer and then push that certain point out some more.
Oh and due to my imperfect technique I've already rubbed off the nice white leather on the inner sides of the boots, so there are smudged red and black stains on it now. Well I did not buy them to be put on a show in a museum, but to use them instead. I've put 400 km in them already and I enjoy it quite a lot!

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