Shoes: The Return of Shoe Laces? Why?
 

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 :-) )

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...320ed7ca1f.jpg

You pretty much nailed it, being 75 I have used all three, laced that needed to be re-tightened, velcro that gives out over time and Boas that work well and I have replaced on well worn Shimano shoes.

You've listed all the reasons and than decided to ignore them.
I prefer the convenience of BOA as well but there are good reasons to go with laces.

what's old is new again...

my first shoes were Diadora leather lace ups with wooden soles...you 'nailed' the cleat to the sole...i'd not go back for money
i much prefer the boa dials

Shoes with laced strings maybe the best fit but need to make sure the ties are not long enough to get caught in crank chain ring while spinning. A double tie usually does the trick.

I have velcro, boa and laced. I like laced the best - S-Works. Tested fast in the wind tunnel. Once tied, I do not have to readjust.

Laces because those are the shoes that are usually on sale. I like the ones with the lace tuck-in to prevent flopping laces getting wound up.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...71065e5a1b.jpg




Also, I have a bone spur on my right metatarsals from an old motorcycle accident. Laces let me put less pressure on that area while still getting a snug fit. BOA looks good though but it does look plasticky (environmentally speaking) which sometimes influences my purchase decisions.

I like velcro, but they all work and much of this comes down to fashion and/or rider preference.

Laces. Simple, repeatable fit. Replaceable. Adjustable on the fly with a finger/thumb yank. You can upgrade to speed laces which is what some triathletes do. Velcro strap edges eventually start peeling up and catch on things.

Away from cycling, does the OP actively seek out footwear with straps or some type of BOA like enclosure? Why or why not?

I also have super lumpy feet... bunions on both feet, both sides :( However, BOA dials still win for me... but of course, there must be two, not one, BOA dials. My current shoe of choice is the Lake CX/MX 242 which conforms to just about any lumpy foot and can be easily adjusted while riding by reaching down and adjusting the BOA dials.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6682f016e9.jpg

I always cringe when I read the trope used way too much here: Marketing. However, just like with fashion which changes constantly, it spurs people to have the latest and greatest and this just might be the case. But instead of the latest, it is retro-sheik. Not to say it may work very well for people where conventional fasteners don’t work.

I just remember the days of riding my paper bike and my right shoe lace getting caught between the front ring and the chain and how it got chewed up and gross with grease.

I don't fully understand the question, but having been a roadie since the late 1980s, I've owned pretty much every type and style or road shoe at some point in my cycling career... laces, Velcro, BOA, combination of these. A shoe with 2 or 3 Velcro straps offers excellent adjustability and on-bike adjustability and a low price, but obviously can't be replaced if the Velcro wears out over time. BOA dials are easier to adjust on the bike and are replaceable... but cost a bit more due to the BOA brand charging a premium. Price aside, it's BOA FTW for me.

I used to use Solomon trail running shoes with BOA style mechanism. I also had Alpinestars motorcycle racing boots with a BOA style system. This was ~20+ years ago.

My first love is riding fix gears on the road, including on hills. So my take on cycling shoes is what shoes both support my feet and don't cause injury or set my feet up for infections? Not an easy task to cycling shoes on a 7 day, 35,000' of climbing week where all climbing is done on gears like 42-24 or higher (often much higher because I chose not to stop and change gears manually for this short steep one.and have to stop again at the top or hammer my not so young crotch spinning 200 RPM on the way down).

In the old days, all shoes had laces. Now I not discovered Cycle Oregon with its week-long rides yet but I was taking my 42-17 fix gear 1000' up Juaquim Miller (sp) Road in Oakland, CA and bombing down in the same gear fast enough that I was never passed by a car. Hard, yes but I never thought about my feet, either during or after. Those shoes were just training level leather soled cycling shoes with nailed on Pavarin cleats.

Then shoes changed. Manufacturers worshiped this new Velcro stuff. Laces disappeared. I rode my second Cycle Oregon, 32,000'. To, up and around Crater Lake. (Took a wrong turn and added another 1000' feet that day.) Next 3 days were all above 5000'. My feet did OK - in that they made it, no medical issues - but they were not happy. Rest stops had me tweaking the velcro to alternate a too loose foot and the start of blisters and lost skin and tighter and the bones over the top of my foot feeling like they were close to being broken with the hard pulls up I was doing. (The last 5000' day had the famous 16 mile relentless climb out of Ashland, OR, Dead Indian Memorial Hwy.)

After one of those early fix gear COs I was at the doc and getting the 10-day anti-Bs for foot infection. Starting my second fixed CO. I carried Tevas under the DT, WB cage. (You can see that red bag in my avatar photo.) So I could take those ****** Velcro'd shoes off at rest stops! Huge improvement but the riding was the same old - same old juggling act of too tight, too loose balancing of injuries. The next year I rode my geared bike in part so I wouldn't have to abuse my feet some more. Then CO offered a ride in hills I simply could not resist doing fixed. But the shoes! And the lightbulb! This didn't used to happen. Not before Velcro. Lace those shoes! And I did. Went to Tandy Leather and bought brass grommets and the tool. Cut off the straps, drilled holes for laces, installed the grommets, laced 'em up. Went for a ride. Ahhh! Comfort! Real comfort. Those shoes did a couple more COs. When I no longer trusted them to get through the next (and last I did fixed) I went to Lake's website and scanned through their shoes looking for the cheapest that had the 3-bolt pattern I needed for the Exustar track cleats with their traditional slot and leather uppers. (It was less than a month before CO when I realized my favorite old Lakes, those hand laced ones, were on their last legs. Uppers better be leather because mid-week in rural Oregon with 18,000' more climbing was NOT where I wanted be with feet chafed by synthetic uppers that almost worked.

So, that search of Lake's website took me to their $300 shoes! CF soles. Dual high end BOAs drilled for 3-bolt cleats. And beautiful leather uppers that came in several colors including the burgundy I just had my '79 Peter Mooney, now fixed, painted! Not available in store in Portland. I had a local shop, Lake dealer, order a pair. Tried them on in the shop. Yeah! About two rides for dial in, then it was Cycle Oregon. It was a learning curve, but a learning curve with the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned (of any type, not just riding). One challenge is that I cannot fine turn them riding because trying to accurately turn that BOA dial pedaling 70 RPM is dangerous! An oops! half turn too tight! will be close to crushing the bones in your foot. So rational fix gear riders stop to adjust. Better/faster than laces but at each's best, the fit is wonderful, sublime.

The BOAs that are the best and equal to properly laced come on $300 shoes. Laces cost $10 plus a $10 tool for your first pair, leaving you with enough grommets to do a second pair. Done right, me feet cannot fell a difference between laces and the best BOAs. Both can be sublime. Velcro is fast and cheap. And for most riding it work well enough.

This post is for riders who pull up on the pedal stroke like some if us dinosaurs (and many fix gear riders) still do. And comfort pulling up against toestraps, not clipless pedals. (For serious hills, I will NEVER use clipless pedals on my fix gears. Going up sometimes gets so hard I have no idea if I am keeping my foot straight. If I pull out, my CP knees will not forgive me for that hard handlebar slam. And that 200 RPM descent on the other side in clipless? I have had nightmares of pulling one foot off doing that. Not going there. I want my feet locked on. Yes, I do occasionally pull out. But having a foot loose inside a strong leather strap just means my heart jumps into my mouth, I ease on the brakes, slide that foot back in and swallow that heart to get it back where it belongs.

I hit the "Laces" button on the poll. BOAs (at their best are just as good, a lot faster and easier to adjust; even while riding if you can coast. At a slightly higher price point. (And funny! Laces are offered on shoes more expensive than those with Velcro. Laces are cheap! Installing them is cheap and easy.)

Let me rephrase it. In your everyday life, if you had the choices you mentioned, and it was socially acceptable, what kind of enclosure system would you use for your work/dress/casual/etc shoes?

Flip phones are making a comeback.

My firsts were leather Duegi shoes with laces and wooden soles. The no-float plastic cleats were attached by bolts. Bought from Jay’s Pedal Power in the Fishtown section of Philly. $60 in 1987. Most I had ever paid for a cycling accessory. Rode those things until they nearly disintegrated.

RMOT

I don't put as much into the closure method of the shoe as I do for how it fits. Since all my shoe shopping will be in person, And places to get cycling shoes are limited around me. I'll have to get the shoe that fits the best and looks pleasing with whatever closure option it offers.

+1 Fit first. I discovered that the cheap Performance brand passed my fit test (standing on my toes at the checkout counter; does my foot slide forward and do my toes feel comfortable?) with flying colors. Bought several more pairs, never paying more than $100 and often a lot less. Happy feet. Until the fix gear saga of my previous post. Over those years, Performance changed as did their shoe selection. I learned the shoes were made by Lake and were available under other labels. But Lake's lasts changed very little. Every pair fit and indeed fit so well as to be for me in the most comfortable ever range. Over those years I purchased several other brand shoes, even a pair of Nike's last year's best. All were a real step down from the cheapest Lakes! Yes, better "power transfer". But after back to back days, "give me back my Lakes! Please!"

Back then all the cool kids wore Detto Pietro's.

:50:

Velcro closures on street shoes are never acceptable on any self-respecting man under age 92.

My feet were too wide for them. Jay explained that the less expensive shoes were made with less material to lower the cost. That’s when he pulled out the pair of Duegi. Twice the price as the Detto but fit really nicely at the same size.

My mom had given me $100 for my birthday. The shoes and the new Spenco gloves in red, white, and blue at up $75 of that. I used the rest to take my girlfriend out for Ethiopian food.

So one can have matching road shoes and bowling shoes.

go to a shoe repair shop and get the Velcro replaced. Cheap fix

I like BOA it works well is well used by so many industries (I have an amputee friend who's new leg has a BOA dial and had a customer with a BOA dial on her arm brace). I haven't yet had any BOA issues but know they happen occasionally but BOA is pretty good about replacement. Laces are fine though and certainly the lightest option but I am happy with BOA, will tolerate buckles and not really as keen on hook and loop as the only closure but if I have to do it I would.