knots

I found this white paper very interesting when I ran across it years ago; YMMV.

I struggled to keep my shoes tied for as long as I can remember. I'd wind up having to double knot em, then I'd be too impatient to untie them, now I've got slip-ons...OK, but (k)not ideal. I came across this paper and, looking down, realized I had been doing it wrong. Just pay attention to how your knot sits. If it tends to lie horizontally (parallel to the floor) you're good to go. If it sits vertically (perpendicular to the floor) you've tied a granny knot and whipping and inertia will pull it loose all the time.

The fix is simple: change nothing about how you tie your shoes EXCEPT switch which lace is on top when you make the first half knot.

I was doing left over right, switched it to right over left. Loop up the right, floop the left over the top. Granny knot transforms in beautiful strong reef knot. Glorious. It felt unnatural at first, but after two weeks it was as easy and simple as could be.

(K)not too long afterwards I discovered a modified shoelace knot that upped my game even further. I'll share that in another post.

This time I opted for a buntline hitch (left side, ABOK 1209), diamond hitch over the top, and a round turn and two half hitches (left side, ABOK 1720) to finish it off. I also used a clove hitch (not pictured, ABOK 1245) on the opposite side to secure the first half of the diamond hitch, but it was unnecessary and only made it more time consuming to untie the whole thing. I will not use the buntline hitch again either; while it seemed very secure, it was much more difficult to untie than other knots I've used.

I secured the loose line after the final knot with a chain sinnet (see below, ABOK 2868) to avoid any mishaps on the ride home.

Found this video a while a go. I've since made a few sets of these, and really like it. Use it mostly in places where I would've used bungees previously.

Been strapping my work bag to my seat, taking the weight off and vastly improving my ride quality. I settled in an a variation of a diamond hitch (shown below) started with a fisherman's bend (ABOK 1723) and finished with a round turn and two half-hitches (ABOK 1720).

May try a buntline hitch instead of the fisherman's bend next time.