Shoe lacing anomaly?

[Glenn S]

So I was reading through this book I picked up at the Goodwill for 20 cents this week called "The Book of Useless Information", and it says:

If you lace your shoes from the inside to the outside, the fit will be snugger around your big toe.

So all you hikers of great feet knowledge, does it? And if so, then consequently, the inverse should provide a roomier toe box.

[Roger Caffin]

Well, the title was 'Useless Information' after all.
Me, I doubt it.

Cheers

[Kelly G]

There can be a method to the madness. There are ways to lace a shoe for a specific result.

I have wide feet, at the toes. For some shoes, I will not lace L-R between the bottom loops. I'll start the lace in the normal place, but string it up the foot, both sides, parallel to each other, and not cross until about the 4th loops. This allows maximum room around the toe area, but then where it crosses, it will hold the foot down into the footbed and secure in the shoe. This is one of those YMMV situations of course.

Kelly

[James Marco]

Hundreds of different lacings for shoes. Yes, they can modify fit/function and zones of shoes and boots.
Here are a sample: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/lacingmethods.htm

[Michael Gunderloy]

And another take on the matter with more specific reference to hiking boots: http://sectionhiker.com/hiking-boot-lacing-techniques/

[Bob Moulder]

I've been doing some trail running with recently acquired Roclite 295's. Great shoe, very comfortable and I plan to hike in them, but as shown in the photo the tongue of the shoe tends to slide completely to the outside of my foot after only a couple of minutes of wearing the shoes. I tried running two sets of the shoestring crossovers through the little sewn tab with the logo, but the result was the same.

Two problems with this are 1) there is much-reduced cushioning for the big tendon in front and 2) more little pebbles and dirt can get into the shoe. No steep downhills yet, but likely worse in that situation.

Any suggestions for keeping the tongue centered??

[Paul Wagner]

Close your mouth, and nobody will notice.

[Marko Botsaris]

"Any suggestions for keeping the tongue centered??"

Many people complain of this problem when the shoes don't have a loop on the mid to upper tongue through which the laces go. You could sew one on each tongue and run you laces through that, and it will keep it from drifting. Some shoes have the lops there already, but sometimes do not use them by default.

[Jerry Adams]

Maybe shoes aren't wide enough? If the gap wasn't so wide, the tongue would completely span the gap.

I have that problem with some shoes. More aesthetic than anything.

[James Couch]

A few light stitches on the side the tongue is slipping away from will neatly solve the problem.

[Bob Moulder]

OK, that's a good suggestion. The material is pretty porous and light so that should be easy enough. Polyester thread is quite strong when looped on itself a few times.

I thought perhaps there was some clever shoe-tying trick with the laces that you guys might have figured out.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Roger Caffin]

It's not a lacing trick but a design trick. Take a look at your photo, where the tongue has slid sideways, and look closely at the loop on the tongue. The loop is far too big. Centre the tongue while wearing the shoes and see about reducing the size of the loop to 'tiny', just big enough to get the laces through. You may need to stitch the loop down on both 'top' and 'bottom' to get the right fit. Make that loop really small.

Cheers

[Bob Moulder]

Good observation, Roger. Actually not a bad idea, but I already tacked the tongue on the side . I also have the Roclite 312 GTX and have the same problem to a lesser degree. In addition to a couple of other configurations, I tried wrapping the laces around the loop before tying, but this made it difficult to tension the laces properly, and even then the tongues would STILL work their way to the outside of my feet.

However, with the tongues tacked on the side per Jim C recommendation it appears the problem is resolved. I've worn the 295s around a bit this afternoon and did a couple mile dog walk with the tongues staying in place, so I will do the same with the 312 GTXs.

[Tim Zen]

http://www.inov-8.co.nz/lacing-systems.html

[Bob Moulder]

http://www.inov-8.co.nz/lacing-systems.html

It's interesting that the tongue of the shoe in the diagram has multiple loops available in the center of the tongue with that daisy-chain type of arrangement at the top. Unfortunately the Trailroc and Roclite models I wear don't have that feature.

So far, tacking the tongue with polyester thread is working. I have about 70 miles on the Roclite 295s, about half of them on very rocky trails, and they're still holding.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I have seen some hikers who completely remove the tongue in order to get maximum room for their wide or voluminous feet.

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