JonR

Anybody have any brilliant DIY ideas for lace-keepers?

The right lace of my otherwise excellent I-won't-name-the-brand-this-time "touring" shoes got wrapped tightly around the pedal axle the other day. If it had been the left lace I would probably have fallen in heavy traffic.

These shoes do not have lace keepers. To add a lace keeper to the shoes would probably cost this nameless corporation two cents per shoe; but I guess you have to consider that's about a week's wages for the Asian sweatshop employees that make the things.

I've been pushing the laces under one of the "X"'s they form as they lace up the shoe, but obviously this is not foolproof.

Jean Beetham Smith 

As my son always says, "Duct tape can fix anything." (& he's and engineer!) The other alternative is the stretchy non-sticky tapes like COBAN, Flex-wrap, Vet-wrap, etc. Just wrap around your instep behind clips if you use them.

RainmanP

JonR,
When I was wearing lace shoes to ride, I used extra long laces, tied them with a square knot rather than a bow, and tucked the long ends well down into my shoes. That's how most military people tie combat boots. If you just use a square knot, the laces you have might be long enough. You just have to have something to tuck in. And it's free. Seemed to work pretty well.
Regards,
Raymond

JonR

Don't tell me: he works for Microsoft, right?
Thanks, Jean and Ba-Dg-Er. I got Badger's suggestion before I went a-riding this morning, and tried it out. Looking down now (I'm still attired for cycling) I see the laces stayed put--I tucked them into the sides of the shoes; they won't go under the tongue with this model. Very good!

The tape idea sounds very secure, too. I'll see if I can come across some of that stuff.

I've got some Avia cycling shoes with actual nifty little gadgets that you can clip around the laces. But those shoes have regular cleats that make you walk like a duck. They're very comfortable, though, on the bike.

Oscar

I got my laces would up in my pedals on a fixed gear bike. No backpedaling to free it. Just gotta go boom like the tricyclist on Laugh-In.

Square knots, eh? Gotta check my Boy Scout manual.

Cambronne

When you tie your shoes, poke the bows and the lace ends into one of the cross-laces nearest the toe of the shoe. You might have to lift the cross-lace with a screwdriver of nail file. this simple trick will keep your lace ends from becoming a problem.

I learned this as a motorcyclist, when I discovered that an errant bootlace caught in the chain will spin your leg round and round like a propellor. :O

Lesson learned early. I've never caught a lace in my bike chainring or chain.

MichaelW

I use extra-long laces, and tie a double bow. The ends are so short their is no chance of catching a chain. You do have to check the knot is tight, in case it comes undone en-route.

LittleBigMan

I did this, but with the added measure of also tying them a third time. These laces were so long I could have made macrame.

We cyclists are all DYI's.

LightBoy

Okay, dumb question time. What's DYI?

LittleBigMan

You got me, I thought it was, DIY, "do it yourself?!"

LightBoy

DIY I get. It's Pete's typo that was tripping me up.

(unless of course it wasn't really a typo and you're just trying to mess with my head. I get that a lot)

JonR

I think DYI is "do yourself in" and it's what happens when you tackle that hill out of nowhere while you're low on glucose.

seanstreiff

Why not name the brand? I've never understood this sort of reluctance to name names.

-Sean

Steele-Bike

My biggest complaint about laces is that I cannot find suitable replacements for them. Recently, my chainring ate one of my laces and I have looked around for a replacement pair, but can't find any. I don't like those cheap flat laces, I want the sturdy round ones.