Top 6 Inline Speed Skate Review 2020

This article will review the top 6 Bont speed skates on the market in 2020 and discuss why they are the inline best speed skates. If you type ‘inline skate review’ or ‘speed skate review’ into google you, unfortunately, end up with a list of reviews of people trying to sell skates on Amazon. After reading the top review blogs, I have serious doubts if these so-called ‘reviewers’ have ever skated in the speed skates that they are reviewing. It seems to me that they do a search on the most popular skates on Amazon and then put those skates in a list. None of the ‘top 10 speed skates’ listed in their reviews have ever been used in any championships that I have ever seen. None of the reviewers of these top 10 speed skate reviews are famous in the world of speed skating. 

My father, Mr. Inze Bont was always looking for ways to improve his boots. His first advancement was the use of fiberglass which revolutionized the sport of short track skating.

Before we start this speed skate review, I want to tell you a little story about innovation. One time I was on a flight from Beijing to Frankfurt to attend ISPO, a sporting trade show and the man sitting next to me was attending the same trade show. He sold table tennis bats and we started discussing materials and what makes one bat better than the other. His comments really shocked me. He said that his company was introducing a new ‘high rebound’ bat at ISPO with ‘more power and performance’ but in actual fact, the only thing that his company changed in the construction of the new bat was the color of the rubber stuck to the bat. Then he laughed. It made me angry. It went against my values in product development and it is people like this that make customers distrust brands. My father, Mr. Inze Bont was always looking for ways to improve his boots. His first advancement was the use of fiberglass which revolutionized the sport of short track skating. Then as new materials like Kevlar and carbon fiber were invented he quickly tested them and perfected ways of using them for skate construction. He was always pushing for ways to make the boot lighter and faster. In our industry, surprisingly with some of the biggest brands in our sport, they seem to have the mentality that taking short cuts is acceptable because skates all look the same to new skaters. I liken it to a car tire. They all look similar but they perform very differently. It is the same with inline skates. I genuinely feel that many of our entry-level and mid-level skates such as the Jet and Luna outperform some of our competitors top of the line boots. 

Materials

With that in mind, let’s discuss materials. Not all speed skates are made using the same materials. There are different types of carbon fiber and different types of resins that you can use to make a boot. As you only see the outer layer of carbon on a speed skate, it is quite common for boot makers to use cheaper carbon or other materials under the outer layer of carbon. You may think that this would be limited to the no-name brands but you would be mistaken. This practice is common in the industry. Any boot that is not 100% carbon should be labeled as a carbon composite boot. In Bont high-end speed skates, we don’t just use high-end carbon fiber, we use unidirectional carbon fiber. Uni-directional carbon fiber is carbon fiber where the fibers are all traveling in the same direction. We can wrap this carbon in the direction that force will be applied on the boot when you skate in it. Why not just use the standard cross-weave? Cross weave carbon absorbs twice as much resin as uni-directional carbon. By using the unidirectional carbon, we can make the boot stronger and lighter but it does take longer to make the boot. 

Bont Vaypor - Top 6 Inline Skate Review

I can write pages and pages about what makes a Bont boot so good. If you want to learn more about the features of a Bont boot that make them the best inline speed skate boots, click the tabs under in the description area that look like these tabs below on any Bont boot page and it will explain in detail about the Bont technology used in that particular boot. 

Selecting your inline speed skates

There are two points that I want to share with you that are very important when selecting an inline speed skate and you will never know the difference by looking at the skate. #1 is the last that the boot is made on. The last is the plastic foot shape that we build the boot around. Many if not most of the inline speed skates that you find on Amazon (even if they do have a Ferrari logo on them) are made on a dress shoe last. A dress shoe is a shoe that you wear out to a nice restaurant. There are a lot of companies in China who work with carbon fiber and think to themselves that they want to start making speed skates. So they go to the last maker and ask them for a last. The last maker makes shoe lasts so he sells him or her one that looks like a shoe. This however is the totally wrong last for a speed skate. Speed skates are made with very hard carbon fiber just 3mm from your bones and if the last isn’t perfect, it will cause you no end of pain. In many cases, these boots lead to bone spurs that need an operation to have them cut off your feet. #2 is the shape of the carbon. Many Chinese speed skates seem to be made by people who don’t skate. They don’t understand that if you make the carbon 2mm too high and it touches a bone that it can cause pain and cramps. You can save $50 buying a budget pair of speed skates on Amazon but they really are not worth your pain? Please be careful when selecting your inline speed skates, they are not all the same. Now onto the top 6 best Bont speed skate review. 

#1. Bont Vaypor Inline Speed Skate

This skate has done it all. World Championships gold medals. World Records. Asian Championships gold medals. Pan-American Games gold medals. The Bont Vaypor is famous the world over for being the best inline speed boot in the world. What makes it so good. In full custom form, it all starts with the mold of your foot. Bont has made more custom boots than all of the other speed skate manufacturers combined so we have the most experience and yes it sounds like I am tooting our own horn because I am, because it’s true, and because it matters. The more molds you sand, the more knowledge you gain about things like how much fatty tissue is in a foot, if a foot is pronating or supinating and how to fix it. You learn how to make the best fitting custom boots. We build the boot not only with the best materials like Durolite from Japan and Toray unidirectional Carbon but we formulate our own resin and we build the boot in one piece from the inside out. The foam padding is a medical grade closed-cell foam that does not absorb water. The eyelets are wide so it relieves lace pressure. The laces have very little stretch so your boots don’t come loose. The tongue has a velcro holder and we finish the carbon base off with a sick looking matt carbon finish. We have done absolutely everything possible to make this boot the best in the world which is why it is. 

#2. Bont Crono 2 Inline Speed Skate

The world’s first and only aerodynamic speed skating boot. Does it look strange? Possibly. Is it the fastest straight-line boot in the world? YES. The cycling version of this boot was banned by the UCI for being too aerodynamic (but teardrop helmets are allowed so go figure…) Traveling at high speeds means you need to push your body including your feet through the air. It makes sense to make your body slide through the air with as little effort as possible. If you want the fastest boot in the world, this is the one for you. 

#3. Bont BNT Inline Speed Skate

The BNT is made in a similar fashion to the Vaypor but this boot is more minimalist. It has no zippers or flaps. The Achilles cuff is low cut. The padding is a harder neoprene derived padding. The area around the mounting blocks is stripped down to save a few grams of weight. It still uses all the great materials that the Vaypor uses such as unidirectional carbon and a Durolte outer skin. This model is new for 2021 and it will soon be breaking records and racking up medals like the Vaypor. 

#4. Bont Jet Inline Speed Skate

The Bont Jet Inline Speed Skate is the world’s most popular inline speed boot. You may see that written all over the Bont web site. The reason it is so popular is that skaters and coaches all over the world know that when you buy a Bont Jet you will get a boot that has the best heat moldability in the industry and it fits like a glove. The craftsmanship on this boot puts boots three times its price to shame. The boot is extremely durable and you know that if you buy a pair of Bont Jet boots for your child that they will not damage their feet. Skaters write to us all the time says that they put their new Bont Jet boots on and instantly skated better, improved their times, and eliminated their foot pain. It is the best speed skating boot you can start your skating career with. 

#5. Bont Semi Race Inline Skate

The Bont Semi race defined a new inline skate category halfway between a recreational inline skate and a full-blown speed skate. Not everyone wants to win gold medals and it is nice to have some added comfort in your skates. The Bont Semi Race uses the same materials as a speed boot but it is higher cut and it has more padding. Unlike a recreational skate that is very high cut with a plastic cuff, the Semi Race gets its support from carbon fiber hidden under the outer skin. Large cutouts in under the 2nd eyelet and a soft rear Achilles area alow more forward flex than you would expect from this boot. This skate is capable of extremely high speeds especially if the wheels are upgraded to high-end race wheels. You can use this boot with small 80mm wheels for fast turns and easy skating or up to 125mm wheels for ultra-fast high speeds. 

#6. Bont Luna Inline Speed Skate

The Bont Luna inline speed skate was introduced in 2020. It is a new generation of speed skate that fits into the Bont lineup just below the Jet. For some people, they don’t want to or need to heat mold their boots. These people don’t use all the heat molding benefits that the Jet has to offer so the Luna is a better option in this case because it doesn’t have the thermoplastic that makes the boot moldable and thus reduces the weight of the boot. The Luna is low cut which gives that ‘I’m going fast’ look even while you are standing still look. The Luna used the Jet’s last (plastic foot) so the shape is a true anatomical fit. 

Well, there you have it, the top 6 Bont Inline Speed Skate Review. 

About the author:

Alexander Bont has been skating since the age of two years old. He was part of the Australian national short track team for 7 years. He has also competed on quad roller skates, long track ice skates, and inline speed skates. Alexander has won a number of Australian national titles including national records in short track and state titles in inline speed skating. He is the owner and CEO of Bont Skates and has a passion for skate design.