Product News:

Bont Unveils the G4
Company claims the new wheel as the world's fastest

By Planet staff
Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008

Bont is jumping back into the inline wheel market with an innovative dual-durometer product that it claims is the world's fastest wheel.

The new G4 (Generation 4) wheel features a "flex band" between the hub and the outer urethane.

"The flex band can be adjusted (during manufacturing) from very flexible for slippery tracks to very stiff for grippy road courses and everything in between," the company says.

The result is a wheel that Bont says provides 5 percent more rebound than the competition.

The new wheels are made from a new "family of urethanes," Bont says, and designed with "hinge points" that allow control of flexing.

Made in the USA, they will come in three varieties:

• Magic Molta for use on Korean resin Molta tracks
• Euro Series (Crossover) for the Vesmaco tracks of Europe and South America
• High Roller and Typhoon for skating on asphalt and rain

So far, only the 100mm High Roller Prologue wheels (white hub and gray urethane) are available. They are $15 a piece ($120 for a set of eight). They are available through bontwheels.com.

"The High Roller is made for absolute speed," Alexander Bont said on the Bont message board.

"It has a huge amount of rebound, with a super hard and ultra high rebound flex band. The grip of this wheel is on the low side in order to decrease rolling resistance and live up to its name, HighRoller. The ride is not excessively bumpy because the hub has quite a lot of flex. ... The Prologue wheel is 84A but the final race wheel will be bumped up a tad to 85A."

The company expects to release the Crossover in three weeks and the Magic Molta this spring. The 110mm versions of the wheels will be available in February.

Bont's announcement heats up the already hot wheel market. Matter and MPC racked up big sales last year with their innovative hollow-core (Matter) and dual-density (MPC) offerings. But other company's, including Tru-Rev and Gyro, were hot on their heels.

Now with Bont back in the game and Luigino introducing its Answer wheels, the competition promises to be fierce.

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