I’ve just got semi race 3. Always used rollerblade and seba recreational skates in the past and the heel lock on the Bont is so much better. Heel don’t lift at all and unless I loosen all the laces I can’t even lift heel to get boots off. They are quite stiff when bending knees like you said but I think with time it’ll soften. No insole but don’t need it. These are most comfortable skate I’ve ever had.
I didn't know Bont made this new version of their semi race. Looks just like my Powerslide Arise! I'm a big fan of the concept, although I liked the purity of the semi race 2 without the cuff the feedback I heard wasn't great either. I would say if your ankle has room to move then you will always have potential blister issues. My fit was greatly improved by adding an inner sole which raises my foot up a bit making the laces more effective. I lace them like a speed skate (ending at the cuff) which really locks my foot in now. Then I lean my leg forward and do up the buckle until it starts to apply pressure. The end result is pretty loose on top but effective enough. I think the ideal setup would have a second pair of laces for the top few holes, possibly even without the plastic cuff. So many things to try still! Appreciate the review.
Thanks. In my case there's not enough room to go with a thicker inner sole and I understand what you mean about the ankle but I think it's just a flawed design. I was able to cover my blisters to try these on again without laces on and just try and make sense of how the ankle is lifting and walked around on carpet and did some dryland speed skating drills and so on. In my case the ankle is very locked in and doesn't have any room to move but as soon as you try and replicate skate moves you at some point go up on your toes a little and your heel comes off the ground which is impossible to avoid unless you can maintain perfect form and a flat foot all throughout the push, glide and regroup. What happens though is every movement your ankle is trying to lift but is being held in place quite effectively by the achilles lock so your achilles is constantly pushing against that and eventually rubbing against it. I have full custom from cast speed skates which I rode this morning for comparison. They work because there's no achilles lock, the whole ankle part is shaped like your achilles but it doesn't have a vertical block that is trying to hold you down, it's just resting either side so if your ankle does go up and down it can without rubbing on anything. I also quickly put my REVV BOAs on then Flying Eagle Drift then Maxxum. They all had achilles nodes but they sat higher to allow some lift and they were made of foam so if you push against them in a lifting action they provide some resistance but they will give before your skin does. That for me is where Bont get it completely wrong. The hard leather nodes inside the a semi race 2 were almost as hard as carbon so they took chunks out of your ankle. These ones are a tad softer but still not soft enough to give. They sit above and are so hard and effective at holding down the achilles it can't rise without rubbing so hard against the suede. It's flawed because the plastic cuff does nothing other than stop movement in any direction. I left it completely open and used the top two eyelets to lace the boot up to the top to test if I leaned forward, would the laces pull the top of the boot forward and make it actually compress and pivot. It didn't. Zero give so your shin crowbars against the top lace and again tries to pull your ankle up and out causing you grief. To me it just seems obvious. If you have a speed skate you can lean forward. If you have higher than a speed skate then whatever is in the design has to let you lean forward which is why plastic boots have a pivoting cuff. This thing looks it's supposed to pivot but the materials are all so hard there's no movement so it fails. Sad really because it's a great boot otherwise.
Have you had another go in these to reassess the forward flex issue? I was close to buying these, but tried the Jets in store and bought them thinking I was ready for speed skates. Rolling around at low speed gave me a false sense of confidence. Getting that exact heel lock blister you mentioned on my right foot, but left foot has a perfect heel lock without those nodes rubbing at all. Also losing skin on the inside of my arches from feet supinating, causing them to rotate against the boot every stride. Now I'm back to considering the Semi Race 3.
I have yes, I wore 1mm ankle booties and thick socks and still had the same issue. I tried removing the cuff so I could flex forward more but even the tiniest bit of lift within the heel caused pain. The heel lock, even though it's a softer pad and softer material compared to the Jet it's still big enough and prominent enough to cause the rubbing. If they took out the Achilles lock it would be a perfect marathon boot, responsive, comfortable, stylish.
@@ofpplayer That's a shame. I heated my right boot to pry that heel padding out and it did loosen the grip, but still rubbed with every tiny movement. Just ordered the Cadomotus NS-3 boot, which looks very similar to the Semi Race 2. From the photos, it looks like the front of the cuff is shaped to always leave room for forward flexion while still letting you tighten the velcro for lateral support. Fingers crossed, as it's getting expensive searching for a comfortable and performant boot.
@@kitsaurusI know what you mean, I've gone through 5 Bont's, Luigino, Simmons Rana, Mariani stock boots. I finally got a pair of custom molded speed skates from Kairos in Australia which are amazing but aren't comfortable and have had to be heated and shaped a lot to get the rubbing points out. I've also tried all of Rollerblade's marathon boots and they've all been pretty close but not quite perfect. The best skate I have for distance that I'm still using is Flying Eagle Drift 2. The only down side to it is lack of forward flex which can be overcome by not going up to the last eyelet on the laces. The Flying Eagle Veloce 2 is the 195mm mount version of it. They're still the best all round compromise of speed, marathon and street for me. I reviewed it a while back, check my other videos if you're interested.
Have you tried loosening the top strap all the way to see how that changes the movement of your foot? You might be pivoting on your tight top strap when leaning forward, hence the exaggerated movement of your heel. Btw, it kinda sucks there are no vents where the toes are. I have Bont Z boots (getting blisters, as heating them up didn't do much), but was thinking about getting these for my city skating. Now I'm kinda hesitant. I would also like to see some more colors than just this all black stuff. Too boring and depressing.
@omegamark4155 yes I have. I have loosened it of completely, even tried removing it and the cuff completely and just running the laces the lower strap, same problem. Even with the cuff and top buckle removed I didn't put the laces up to the top, laced them only up to where they come out of the box which is everything done up except the 2 sets of eyelets in the upper region. Same problem again. I used to have this problem in my Jets, Luna and two pairs of Semi Race 2. I knew a guy who used to race on the Bont team and he told me he was aware of the lack of the heel being locked in place and asked for the side buckle for the lace guard or lower strap to be placed a cm or maybe a few centimetres back so the strap would pull back instead of down across the top of the foot. I think that's part of the problem as I still had the heel rub and lift even without the cuff on or top laces done up. Then I went the opposite and put the cuff back on, laced all the way to the top and did everything up very tight trying to eliminate all movement and wore 1mm thick ankle booties to eliminate rubbing even if there was movement. At first I'd thought I'd nailed it and fixed the issue, for the first few km's anyway then it started creeping in, same rub, same spot, same blister. I think the fix is: get rid of the two nodes that make up the achilles lock, move the side lower buckle back 1-2cm, allow the cuff to pivot forward by chopping out a section at the upper rear where the cuff touches as it is effectively stopping it rotate forward. I think the Rollerblade REVV BOA at least get that bit right, it allows forward flexion. Check out inline warehouse online, that are selling a new boot by a manufacturer called Iqon I think it's called. They also seem to grasp this point and if you look at the carbon cuff models the cuff sits away from the boot not flush with it so it can actually move, canter, rock forward etc.
I’ve just got semi race 3. Always used rollerblade and seba recreational skates in the past and the heel lock on the Bont is so much better. Heel don’t lift at all and unless I loosen all the laces I can’t even lift heel to get boots off. They are quite stiff when bending knees like you said but I think with time it’ll soften. No insole but don’t need it. These are most comfortable skate I’ve ever had.
I didn't know Bont made this new version of their semi race. Looks just like my Powerslide Arise! I'm a big fan of the concept, although I liked the purity of the semi race 2 without the cuff the feedback I heard wasn't great either. I would say if your ankle has room to move then you will always have potential blister issues. My fit was greatly improved by adding an inner sole which raises my foot up a bit making the laces more effective. I lace them like a speed skate (ending at the cuff) which really locks my foot in now. Then I lean my leg forward and do up the buckle until it starts to apply pressure. The end result is pretty loose on top but effective enough. I think the ideal setup would have a second pair of laces for the top few holes, possibly even without the plastic cuff. So many things to try still! Appreciate the review.
Thanks. In my case there's not enough room to go with a thicker inner sole and I understand what you mean about the ankle but I think it's just a flawed design. I was able to cover my blisters to try these on again without laces on and just try and make sense of how the ankle is lifting and walked around on carpet and did some dryland speed skating drills and so on. In my case the ankle is very locked in and doesn't have any room to move but as soon as you try and replicate skate moves you at some point go up on your toes a little and your heel comes off the ground which is impossible to avoid unless you can maintain perfect form and a flat foot all throughout the push, glide and regroup. What happens though is every movement your ankle is trying to lift but is being held in place quite effectively by the achilles lock so your achilles is constantly pushing against that and eventually rubbing against it.
I have full custom from cast speed skates which I rode this morning for comparison. They work because there's no achilles lock, the whole ankle part is shaped like your achilles but it doesn't have a vertical block that is trying to hold you down, it's just resting either side so if your ankle does go up and down it can without rubbing on anything.
I also quickly put my REVV BOAs on then Flying Eagle Drift then Maxxum. They all had achilles nodes but they sat higher to allow some lift and they were made of foam so if you push against them in a lifting action they provide some resistance but they will give before your skin does. That for me is where Bont get it completely wrong. The hard leather nodes inside the a semi race 2 were almost as hard as carbon so they took chunks out of your ankle. These ones are a tad softer but still not soft enough to give. They sit above and are so hard and effective at holding down the achilles it can't rise without rubbing so hard against the suede.
It's flawed because the plastic cuff does nothing other than stop movement in any direction. I left it completely open and used the top two eyelets to lace the boot up to the top to test if I leaned forward, would the laces pull the top of the boot forward and make it actually compress and pivot. It didn't. Zero give so your shin crowbars against the top lace and again tries to pull your ankle up and out causing you grief.
To me it just seems obvious. If you have a speed skate you can lean forward. If you have higher than a speed skate then whatever is in the design has to let you lean forward which is why plastic boots have a pivoting cuff. This thing looks it's supposed to pivot but the materials are all so hard there's no movement so it fails. Sad really because it's a great boot otherwise.
Have you had another go in these to reassess the forward flex issue?
I was close to buying these, but tried the Jets in store and bought them thinking I was ready for speed skates. Rolling around at low speed gave me a false sense of confidence. Getting that exact heel lock blister you mentioned on my right foot, but left foot has a perfect heel lock without those nodes rubbing at all. Also losing skin on the inside of my arches from feet supinating, causing them to rotate against the boot every stride. Now I'm back to considering the Semi Race 3.
I have yes, I wore 1mm ankle booties and thick socks and still had the same issue. I tried removing the cuff so I could flex forward more but even the tiniest bit of lift within the heel caused pain. The heel lock, even though it's a softer pad and softer material compared to the Jet it's still big enough and prominent enough to cause the rubbing. If they took out the Achilles lock it would be a perfect marathon boot, responsive, comfortable, stylish.
@@ofpplayer That's a shame. I heated my right boot to pry that heel padding out and it did loosen the grip, but still rubbed with every tiny movement.
Just ordered the Cadomotus NS-3 boot, which looks very similar to the Semi Race 2. From the photos, it looks like the front of the cuff is shaped to always leave room for forward flexion while still letting you tighten the velcro for lateral support. Fingers crossed, as it's getting expensive searching for a comfortable and performant boot.
@@kitsaurusI know what you mean, I've gone through 5 Bont's, Luigino, Simmons Rana, Mariani stock boots. I finally got a pair of custom molded speed skates from Kairos in Australia which are amazing but aren't comfortable and have had to be heated and shaped a lot to get the rubbing points out. I've also tried all of Rollerblade's marathon boots and they've all been pretty close but not quite perfect. The best skate I have for distance that I'm still using is Flying Eagle Drift 2. The only down side to it is lack of forward flex which can be overcome by not going up to the last eyelet on the laces. The Flying Eagle Veloce 2 is the 195mm mount version of it. They're still the best all round compromise of speed, marathon and street for me. I reviewed it a while back, check my other videos if you're interested.
i like to skate fast. i just get a hard boot and put on 4x110. its comfortable enough and with enough flex
Have you tried loosening the top strap all the way to see how that changes the movement of your foot? You might be pivoting on your tight top strap when leaning forward, hence the exaggerated movement of your heel.
Btw, it kinda sucks there are no vents where the toes are. I have Bont Z boots (getting blisters, as heating them up didn't do much), but was thinking about getting these for my city skating. Now I'm kinda hesitant. I would also like to see some more colors than just this all black stuff. Too boring and depressing.
@omegamark4155 yes I have. I have loosened it of completely, even tried removing it and the cuff completely and just running the laces the lower strap, same problem. Even with the cuff and top buckle removed I didn't put the laces up to the top, laced them only up to where they come out of the box which is everything done up except the 2 sets of eyelets in the upper region. Same problem again. I used to have this problem in my Jets, Luna and two pairs of Semi Race 2. I knew a guy who used to race on the Bont team and he told me he was aware of the lack of the heel being locked in place and asked for the side buckle for the lace guard or lower strap to be placed a cm or maybe a few centimetres back so the strap would pull back instead of down across the top of the foot. I think that's part of the problem as I still had the heel rub and lift even without the cuff on or top laces done up.
Then I went the opposite and put the cuff back on, laced all the way to the top and did everything up very tight trying to eliminate all movement and wore 1mm thick ankle booties to eliminate rubbing even if there was movement. At first I'd thought I'd nailed it and fixed the issue, for the first few km's anyway then it started creeping in, same rub, same spot, same blister.
I think the fix is: get rid of the two nodes that make up the achilles lock, move the side lower buckle back 1-2cm, allow the cuff to pivot forward by chopping out a section at the upper rear where the cuff touches as it is effectively stopping it rotate forward. I think the Rollerblade REVV BOA at least get that bit right, it allows forward flexion. Check out inline warehouse online, that are selling a new boot by a manufacturer called Iqon I think it's called. They also seem to grasp this point and if you look at the carbon cuff models the cuff sits away from the boot not flush with it so it can actually move, canter, rock forward etc.