Snowboard Boot Lacing Systems

What's The Best Lacing System?

This is a question we get asked every day, and the answer isn't as simple as you'd think. Back when snowboard boots were first made they had traditional laces, much like your regular shoes. Over the years there have been many variations of lacing systems, all with their own pros and cons. Some have come and gone, while others have stood the test of time. Today we have 3 major options:

  • Traditional laces
  • Boa
  • Speed lace

 

Traditional Laces

Traditional laces (or just 'laces') are the original method for doing up your snowboard boots, your shoes, and a whole bunch of other gear. Odds are you know how to tie these up with your eyes closed. 

Pros: 

  • Easy to use
  • Easily replaced if broken
  • Able to be tightened or loosened in specific areas, giving you more control over your fit.

Cons: 

  • Can be difficult to get tight - especially with stiff boots
  • Slower than other lacing systems

CLICK HERE TO SHOP LACE BOOTS

Boa System

The Boa System is the latest innovation in snowboard boot lacing, and has quickly become the preferred method for the majority of riders. The simple design makes it incredibly easy to tighten and loosen your boots, the parts are durable, and it can even be used one handed with gloves on. There are many types of Boa dial across lots of sports and industries, but there are a few major ones within snowboarding. The functionality will be the same, push the dial in to engage the mechanism, turn the dial to tighten, and pull the dial out to release. 

Pros:

  • Very easy to use
  • Easy to dial in your preferred fit
  • Comes in single zone, dual zone, and sometimes triple zone
  • Lifetime warranty on parts
  • Durable design - extremely unlikely to break unless tampered with or impacted
  • Easy to fix once you know how

Cons:

  • Added expense per boa dial
  • Difficult to fix if you don't know how
  • Dual zone Boa boots aren't compatible with bindings featuring winged highbacks (rare)

CLICK HERE TO SHOP BOA BOOTS


Speed Laces

Speed Laces come in many forms from many different brands, and each will have slight differences and pros and cons for each. At the base level they all have the same basic concept of a separate lace for your upper and lower zone, and all you need to do is pull the lace and it tightens and locks. The major types of speed lace are:

TLS - Twin Lacing System

TLS laces are found on Nitro snowboard boots only, and have two versions: TLS, and TLS+. Both are operated the same and function the same, but TLS+ is a streamlined and more robust design that is currently only on high-end Nitro boots. To fasten TLS boots, all you do is grab each lace and pull towards yourself, then put the lace handles into the side holsters. That's it! Don't wind up the laces before you tuck the handles in, otherwise the lace can be pulled loose with movement. To release, just pull the lace handles forward towards your toes and the mechanism will release. 

Pros:

  • Very easy to use
  • Very fast
  • Not as expensive as boa
  • Allows you to control you upper and lower zone independently

Cons:

  • Can be difficult to replace if broken

SpeedZone

SpeedZone is found on Burton boots, and is extremely simple to use. Pull the laces tight, then tuck the handles into the side holsters. To release, pull the lace handles forwards towards your toes and they will release, allowing you to loosen the boot. 

Black


Pros:

  • Very easy to use
  • Very fast
  • Not as expensive as boa
  • Allows you to control you upper and lower zone independently
  • No moving parts - fewer breakages

Cons:

  • Can be difficult to replace if broken
  • Not featured on many boots

CLICK HERE TO SHOP SPEEDLACE BOOTS


There is no 'best' lacing system, and each have their pros and cons, and each have a loyal fanbase that won't ride anything else. BOA is by far the most common these days, but each lacing system has its place, and you just need to decide which one works for you.