TL;DR... Do you prefer laced cycling shoes and why?
While I think everyone is entitled to like what they like and thus if you prefer laced shoes, that's fine... but why? What advantage do they offer over BOA or Velcro shoes that I'm missing? Begin my anti-shoe lace rant...
When I first learned to ride a bicycle several decades ago which was back in the BMX bike era, I hated shoe laces. They'd always come undone then get caught on something... and often get caught in the chain/chain ring and get all full of chain goo. Even if they didn't come undone while riding, they'd loosen-up or were too tight, requiring one to getting off the bike to adjust the laces. Then there's the issue of a lace breaking...
Fast-forward to today, I still see no reason why a roadie would choose laces over a BOA system (or another brand offering the same feature), or even Velcro straps other than nostalgia. I bring this up because I've seen several prominent bicycle shoe companies introduce lace-up shoes, typically claiming they offer the ultimate in adjustability as the key advantage. However, unless one is comparing a laced shoe to a single BOA or single Velcro strapped shoe, how are they more adjustable? One thing is for sure, both BOA and Velcro can be quickly adjusted while riding where as laced shoes cannot. In some unlikely event that a BOA dial or Velcro loosens-up, they won't flap-in-the-breeze and cause a potentially dangerous mechanical issue. I know that many lace shoes have little loops to hold the laces so they don't come undone or get stuck in the chain, but this is just one more step required to put one's shoes on that I'd rather avoid.
The other claimed advantages would be weight and aero dynamics... maybe. I'm suspect that laces are significantly more aero or lighter than the alternatives... at least not enough to make any real difference to offset the annoyances they cause.
Cost is perhaps the only advantage I can think of because BOA is a brand that charges a premium for their product and I think Velcro is as well (although I'm not so sure there's any royalty payment for using a Velcro like enclosure?) Laces, on the other hand, are pretty generic and not patented, hence shoe manufacturers can use them on their shoes and market them as some kind of revolutionary wonder device, allowing them to charge more for something that is actually inferior to the alternatives. (IMHO :-) )
