Shoe/Boot Laces - Be Careful!!

I have been building up a proper ensemble of protective gear over the past year, but the one thing I don’t yet have is riding boots. I wear heavy, lace up hiking boots for now.

Yesterday, I pulled away from a stop light and found that one my laces (the tie-loop “bunny ear” bit) got hung up on the foot peg. I was fortunate enough to have the space and time to get cleanly off the road, hit my hazard lights and keep rolling while I sorted out the lace situation. This was my left boot btw. I couldn’t shift or put that foot down (which is the foot I put down first at stops.)

Anyway, if you wear lace up shoes/boots to ride, please keep this mind. As soon as I got home last night I cut two lengths of double sided Velcro to wrap around the ankle of my boots to secure the laces. You should do the same.

Peace,
Tony

I wear a lace up full boot and the laces get double knotted. The remainder of the lace get tucked deep into the boot. I do the same when wearing tennis shoes on the Harley, the laces always get tucked in.

About 4 years ago when we still lived in SoCal my wife and I were headed into a Wal-Mart and a guy with a Ninja 500 was parking backward at the bike rack. As he went to put the kick stand down the bike went down too. His laces got hung up on the peg and the stand never deployed so down he went. I helped him get the bike up and asked how long he had been riding. Apparently he had the bike for just a few days and it was his first. Nothing really bad happened to the bike but his pride was hurt a bit. Laces can be bad news.....

HavBlue said:

As he went to put the kick stand down the bike went down too.

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Yep, that's exactly what I was picturing. I would have been pi$$ed and embarassed if I had gone down because of a shoe lace. If I'm going down it better be more exiciting than that, damnit! :Flash:

Reminds me of a funny remark from Jeremy on Top Gear.
I forget which wildly dangerous, unruly supercar they were discussing, but they were trying to decide if it was cool or un-cool. Keep in mind they put all/most supercars in the un-cool catagory. Anyway, Jeremy decided that going backwards, in a fireball through the pearly gates was a cool way to go.

If your gonna do it... do it right!

teeter said:

If I'm going down it better be more exiciting than that, damnit! :Flash:

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It usually never is, at least for me. I got a shoe lace stuck around the shifter on my CX500 once while moving it in the garage. I tried to put my foot down and the bike went with it. Nothing hurt but my pride. As usual.

They usually go something like this:

My sister: How did you get that bump on your head?

Me: I was moving the floor jack in the garage and the little wheel bumped against the wheelbarrow that was leaning against the work bench, which tipped over and the handles whacked me in the head. As I fell backwards over my Trek mountian bike skinning my elbow, which in turn fell on to my C70 busting a turn signal lens.

Sister: Wow. Is everything you do an adventure?

Me: Yup. Chicks dig scars.

Sister: Just don't tell them the real story OK?



Sorry for getting off track of the topic..

I wear alpine stars boots, the laces they have are safely tucked up inside when the zips are closed, and then there is a clasp at the top too.

Very good point Tony, that shoe string can also end up in the chain- not good. Proper gear includes motorcycle only boots or shoes. My Oxtar shoes are lace up but have a large velcro flap to hold in place and cover the laces. This type of shoe also has anckle padding and non slip soles - very important for those oil slicks at stop sign left from the cagers.
I mostly wear boots for better ankle support in case of a get off that we all hope never happens.

I gave up on the laced shoe route.

Zippers and velcro baby. Oh yeeaah!

Sidi B-2 Boots - Read Reviews and Buy at KneeDraggers.com

wolfc70 said:

Me: I was moving the floor jack in the garage and the little wheel bumped against the wheelbarrow that was leaning against the work bench, which tipped over and the handles whacked me in the head. As I fell backwards over my Trek mountian bike skinning my elbow, which in turn fell on to my C70 busting a turn signal lens.
Sorry for getting off track of the topic..

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hehe... Great Story.

...and I want yer C70!

Yeah, I've gotten my darn shoelace wrapped around my shifter several times. I just move my foot forward to slip it off. I'm more careful now about it but I've learned to adapt. If I'm wearing longer pants it's usually not a problem. But, yeah, this is a good point as I imagine it could lead to more than just a distraction.

About six months ago I got up from my desk at work to head to the bathroom, and ended up falling down with my office chair on top of me. Yeah, my shoelace wrapped around the damn wheel of my chair.

And they wonder why I'm called "Botch"... :Flip:

Yup, I've personally done this...pulled up to a light and went to put my foot down and I couldn't because I hadn't noticed my lace get wrapped around the shifter peg. Due to the slight camber of the road and being caught off guard, I fell over like an idiot. My new boots don't have laces and my shoes that I ride in to school or whatever, I cut the laces super short and burned the ends (so they don't fray) so that doesn't happen again.

Felt like a complete idiot :Im With Stupid:

I haven't had the issue with shoe laces (knock on wood) but I have had my pants get cought on my foot peg. While I didn't fall over I am more carefull about what pants I wear riding.

I just had an accident on a curved entry ramp while accellerating. My right shoe lace somehow got caught in the gear or chain & it ripped my leg back and pulled me off balance (not to mention the exhaust burn from wearing shorts). The best I could do was straighten out the bike and brake with my fronts since I had lost all right-tilt stability. I could feel my back tire at the edge of lifting off the road and aimed straight into the grass.

Fortunatly I was able to slow the bike significantly, but I took a tumble & the bike slide on its side breifly. I NOW realize that shoe lace incidents aren't just laughable - I lost stability and that limits your options real quick. Fortunatly I've only got a burn, scrape and bruise, and the bike is just fine, but I'm going shopping for some boots!!!

RueTheDay said:

Fortunatly I've only got a burn, scrape and bruise, and the bike is just fine, but I'm going shopping for some boots!!!

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And good riding pants, right?