View Full Version : Anyone use elastic no tie shoe laces?
Liked these. https://www.amazon.com/LOCK-LACES-Elastic-Tie-Shoelaces/dp/B00975EAJ6 Just learned about them. I've found replaces some of the various lacing schemes I've used.
Old Grouse
09-02-2016, 20:06
Well not elastic like that, but I've become comfortable with the speed laces in my Salomons. I was initially suspicious of their longevity but have had no problems. Nor have others, as far as I know. Is the elasticity a necessity? If so, I'd wonder about its loss over time. I'd like to hear your experience with them.
Feral Bill
09-02-2016, 20:08
I've used Speedo water shoes with these for sailing. They worked well for that, as well as some mild walking.
One Half
09-02-2016, 23:16
I haven't used those but on my hiking shoes I do use the "friction locks" (the name eludes me right now) like you find on a gear bag/ditty bag. It's quick and easy especially when wet and/or cold.
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ChrisJackson
09-03-2016, 03:48
I use exactly those- love'em.
I went through many pairs of Salomon with their speed laces which I really liked. Have you tried these elastic laces on a hike with some moderate to severe downhill stretches? That would be my area of concern, the laces would flex and allow the foot to push forward.
ChrisJackson
09-03-2016, 08:52
36090Rarely even bend over and tighten them up. Slip on and go for the most part. Yep I like purple :)
Water Rat
09-03-2016, 09:16
I wear Salomon's and my last pair had issues with one of my speed laces get trapped in the plastic lock. This was the only pair I have had that issue...but it was enough to drive me to look for a slightly more user-friendly lace system. I found the Lock Laces at a local outdoor store and decided to give them a go. They are now my favorites. They are easy to tighten and even easier to loosen at the end of the day (the Salomon lock system was a little finicky when it got mud and gunk in it).
I have yet to have a problem with these laces allowing my foot to slip and slide on varying terrain. I could see where that might be an issue if one had their shoes a little loose before the start of the downhill, but have not yet had an instance where the laces themselves stretched enough to allow my foot to slide around.
Haven't been using them for long. Have not tried them on steep downhills. Have used them on the Oregon PCT though that is a more moderately graded for multi use well maintained trail. I like they can decrease the potential for soreness and hot spots by expanding which is nice to have when changing to a thicker sock using the same trail runner or as feet enlarge on prolonged hikes or with a heavy load. I found I'm not adjusting laces as often as I might. Even though elastic they could be cinched tighter on steeper downhills which is what I will try here in GA on more steeply graded routes. I suspect even though having some give they could be cinched tighter preventing toe bump or feet slipping forward. I think a good heel lock is obtained from a shoe's design and footbed/orthotic also. It's not just about the lacing.
I too like the Salomon speed laces but have had and seen them snap in the past. Maybe, Salomon has amended the laces by making them less prone to snapping /abrading because haven't had that issue in awhile. As much as I like Salomons I've been moving more and more to wide toe box shoes like some HOKA's, Altras, and Keens that let my forefeet splay. OHHH, what relief from hotspots these brands have been on longer warmer trips when feet will enlarge. Mine still grow the longer I'm out.
cneill13
09-04-2016, 06:29
Seriously? Too hard to tie shoes?????
What has happened to our country?
Might work for my two year old. She has a tough time with laces.
Pathetic......
ChrisJackson
09-04-2016, 07:06
Seriously? Too hard to tie shoes?????
What has happened to our country?
Might work for my two year old. She has a tough time with laces.
Pathetic......
yep, lock lace sales are a well known key performance indicator for a society's overall health. The Romans tied their sandals in the beginning, but when they went to lock laces in later years- well, you see what happened.
Seriously? Too hard to tie shoes?????
What has happened to our country?
Might work for my two year old. She has a tough time with laces.
Pathetic......
I find it a performance enhancement indicator of modern technological advancement. ;)
When in the market for a new truck I was determined to find a recent model with hand crank windows, manual door locks, and without an alarm system. The salesmen looked at me like I was nuts. One even said, "but they provide such convenience reducing hassles." To which I said, "then you pay for those features and get the neighbor's car alarm to stop going off when she inadvertently and routinely locks herself out of her car and she has yet after two year's of owning the vehicle learned how to enter it at 5 a.m. without setting it off."
Hey, my Keen sandals have stock stretch lock laces too. :p
Since I'm opining complaints microwaves, conventional ovens, and laundry driers that buzz when done and then continue to buzz, beep, etc indefinitely until the power goes out, the Second Coming, or you answer their call directly annoy me too. One or two beeps are enough!
This is why I hike: to get the buzzing and beeping rattling out of my head.
Since I'm opining complaints microwaves, conventional ovens, and laundry driers that buzz when done and then continue to buzz, beep, etc indefinitely until the power goes out, the Second Coming, or you answer their call directly annoy me too. One or two beeps are enough!
This is why I hike: to get the buzzing and beeping rattling out of my head.
amen to the microwave buzzer. I keep disabling and my wife enables. RRRRRR
AfterParty
09-04-2016, 15:10
I just picked up some addias swift r with speed laces and after a few weeks they are great I didn't know if I'd like them but I do, they stay tight.
warld piece
09-06-2016, 01:39
I found that shoes like salomons which come built that way work wonderful, but once I added aftermarket elastic no ties to a pair of shoes and it didn't work out well, wouldn't evenly tighten like salomons which are built to glide thru
couscous
10-03-2016, 09:46
Nike's self-lacing sneakers finally go on sale November 28th
http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/21/12998474/buy-nike-self-lacing-shoes-hyperadapt-1
atraildreamer
10-03-2016, 10:18
Since I'm opining complaints microwaves, conventional ovens, and laundry driers that buzz when done and then continue to buzz, beep, etc indefinitely until the power goes out, the Second Coming, or you answer their call directly annoy me too. One or two beeps are enough!
This is why I hike: to get the buzzing and beeping rattling out of my head.
This is what I use to keep the noises out of my head: 36435 :banana
Hey, you could add an elastic chin strap to your foil hat.
In Wisconsin a group of 3 hikers passed me going the other way all wearing Greenbay Packers cheesehead hats. One had a small Packers flag sticking out of the top. No surprise one was noshing Cheese Doodles and the focus of their conversation was beer at the TH.
One Half
10-03-2016, 11:57
I started putting those friction lock things on my hiking shoe laces years ago. Very handy for very cold and/or wet hikes. Then they got really convenient and I started putting them on all my sneakers etc until I switched to VFFs. I should go back to those now that I am back in trail shoes.
H I T C H
10-19-2016, 21:44
I bought a set of the Coolnice elastic laces off of Amazon and they are going back for a refund. I just had a hip replaced and thought that they would help me get my sneakers on for rehab. When you go to put your foot in the laces pop out of the eyelets. Not good.
I do have a pair of Morrell trail shoes with speed loc laces that are great.
I wear Salomon's and my last pair had issues with one of my speed laces get trapped in the plastic lock. (the Salomon lock system was a little finicky when it got mud and gunk in it).
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I have had the same problem with them in mud. I like the idea of carrying the Lock Laces as an extra set.
I tried the Salomon add-on speed lace system and initially I liked it. On local trails and around town they worked great. Once we ventured onto the AT it was a different story. The lock system seemed to loosen throughout the day to where I was having to re-adjust them to keep my foot from sliding around. Ended cutting them off and going back to the original laces after 2-3 days.
I used them for a 600 miles hike of the Bruce trail on my Altra instinct 2.0 runners this summer.
Pros: It makes life easier since I do not carry a camp shoe and their elasticity made using my trail shoes as camp shoes easier to put on and off multiple times every day.
Cons: The foot is kind of wobbly and loose inside the shoe and the chance of potential accidents increases in long term.If you try to compensate this wobbliness by tightening them then the circulation would be affected and you finally are force to loosen them.
Because they have volume and are not flat, after hours ( and days and weeks) my feet were feeling the laces more than a conventional ( and flat) lace.
Adjusting them and finding the best tension is a challenge.
Would I use them in my next long distance hike? NO
Would I use them in short distance hike? Possibly
Would they last for thousands of miles use? Absolutely.
black chucks
03-06-2017, 21:04
I find it a performance enhancement indicator of modern technological advancement. ;)
When in the market for a new truck I was determined to find a recent model with hand crank windows, manual door locks, and without an alarm system. The salesmen looked at me like I was nuts. One even said, "but they provide such convenience reducing hassles." To which I said, "then you pay for those features and get the neighbor's car alarm to stop going off when she inadvertently and routinely locks herself out of her car and she has yet after two year's of owning the vehicle learned how to enter it at 5 a.m. without setting it off."
Hey Dogwood I'd like to know whether you eventually found that particular recent model truck. I want one.
DownEaster
03-15-2017, 22:55
My L.L. Bean shore shoes (since discontinued) came with something very much like these. I plan to take a new (still in the box at the moment) pair with me on my NoBo through hike next year. They're entirely porous (including drain holes in the soles) so they dry out quickly. They'll serve as camp footwear, river crossing wear, and backup hiking wear. (I've put a few hundred miles of city walking on my first pair, so I know they can take it.) The elastic "ties" make them really convenient to get into or out of, so I won't have much excuse not to give my hiking shoes (and my sweaty feet) a break at lunch.
My Soloman Mission XR shoes came with the speed laces. I am on my 3rd pair - and LOVE THEM! On the AT, I have hiked with them three different years/sections: Palmerton PA to NJ border, NJ southern border to southern NY border, and Amicohola - Clingman's Dome. Plus, each pair spent a fair amount of time on weekenders on the NCT or trail running in the dunes along the coast of Lake Michigan. I was worried at first, but they have been great!
Slow Trek
03-19-2017, 00:25
We met a hiker that had lost an arm,his trail runners had a lace with a cord lock,seemed to work for him. Pretty tough to tie shoes with one hand. After a few nights in the same shelters,made me realize how easy our hike was compared to his...
More than 5,000 years ago, Oetzi the Iceman was bestriding the Alps, a hunter covering many miles on foot as he stalked his prey.
Now replicas of his distinctive mountain boots, made of calf, bear and deer leather, are to be sold to modern-day mountain climbers after a prototype pair won rave reviews.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00597/news-graphics-2005-_597835a.jpg
Oetzi's body was found perfectly preserved in a frozen glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991 by two German climbers. He was wearing goatskin leggings and a grass cape, in addition to the boots.
They have now been re-created in a tanning process involving boiled liver and pig brains by a Czech academic after years of research into prehistoric production methods.
Petr Hlavacek, a footwear expert from Tomas Bata University in Zlin, in the eastern Czech Republic, said that the boots were "like going barefoot, only better".
He said: "They are very comfortable and perfect protection against hard terrain, hot temperatures and the cold. They may not look very attractive but from a technical point of view they are very strong. They have a very good grip and withstand shock well.
"Because the shoes are actually quite complex I'm convinced that even 5,300 years ago people had the equivalent of a cobbler who made shoes for other people."
Since leading climbers praised the boots' performance after testing them in extreme conditions, a Czech company has offered to buy from Dr Hlavacek the rights to sell them. The discovery of Oetzi, believed to have been in his forties when he died, gave scientists a unique insight into the life of man 5,300 years ago.
They were able to tell that he had eaten venison for his last meal, that he lived about 30 miles from the place where he perished and that he had been shot by an arrow.
Asked by a German university about prehistoric footwear, Dr Hlavacek and a university colleague decided to recreate Oetzi's boots. They painstakingly sourced the calf, deer and bearskin used for the soles, finally managing to track down a pelt from a bear hunted in Canada.
Oetzi's shoes had been stuffed with hay to form a lining that provided warmth and comfort. The researchers re-created a handmade net made of thin strips of bark that held the hay in place.
After unsuccessfully trying to tan the leather with vegetable fats, it was decided to use boiled pig liver and raw pig's brain - a method known to have been used in the Stone Age in South America. The noxious mixture was smeared onto the skin, left for three days - and did its job.
Dr Hlavacek was allowed to take a cast of Oetzi's feet to record his exact measurements. "His feet were much smaller and slimmer than those of an adult man today - only as big as a 12-year-old boy's," said Dr Hlavacek.
He said that Oetzi's boots offered more contact with the uneven ground than modern shoes.
Vaclav Patek, a Czech mountaineer who tested the shoes, said: "They were a pleasant surprise. They were durable, warm and comfortable and far better than some modern shoes."