For years I would find myself periodically annoyed by shoelaces. Several times a day, I would have to engage in finicky fine-motor activity to tie my shoes. This made me a little angry, because I suspected that the reason why few adult shoes have alternate closures has to do with fashion rather than with any technological benefits of shoelaces (note, after all, that shoelaces come undone, as well as get caught in bike gears, so it's not all a matter of laziness), and I've always resented social pressures of fashion imposing burdens on us.
I've thought about this for a long time, and then recently finally decided to do something about it. I pulled out some cord locks (in the photo are some heavy duty cord locks that I salvaged from something years ago), pulled my shoelaces through them, and after a day or two of experimental use, I cut the shoelaces down, and knotted them above the cord locks. No more regular annoyance and anger at society's fashion choices!
To fasten, I just grab the cord lock with one hand, and pull the permanent knot with the other. To unfasten, I just grab the cord lock and pull it to the knot. At any time, I can easily adjust tension in either direction without untying. It doesn't come loose. It doesn't get stuck in bike gears. It's not quite as instantaneous as I had imaged, but it is pretty fast.
It has some minor down sides. Eventually a cord lock will break down--though I don't know if this will be sooner than the shoe. At the length of lace I settled for (a little shorter than in this photo), the shoes don't loosen quite as far for removal as I might ideally prefer. And one would probably need to cut the laces to launder the shoes, but I don't launder my shoes.
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