Among the dazzling array of cycling equipment, cycling socks are one of the least noticeable equipment. Not only are there relatively few reviews of cycling socks by cycling media, but some riders even directly put on ordinary socks/sports socks that they usually wear... Today, we will introduce in detail the differences between cycling socks and ordinary socks.
Cycling socks give people a feeling of being thicker/solid than ordinary socks. Why is this? Cycling, which is an exercise of dozens or hundreds of kilometers, ordinary socks may be worn out in the big toe, heel and other places in three or two days. Cycling socks will be "reinforced" in the heels, toes and other parts that are relatively easy to wear, so they look more solid than ordinary socks.
How to judge the thickness of cycling socks without touching the real thing?
Here is a little trick for everyone: the weight of socks (that is, the bare weight of a pair of socks) is more valuable for reference than pictures.
Ordinary socks (not including long socks, boat socks, and short socks) weigh about 20-30 grams. 40 grams is the ideal weight for cycling socks; 60 grams is the excellent standard for sports socks that emphasize wear resistance. So next time you buy cycling socks, you can directly ask the customer service about the weight of the socks. In most cases, you can have an understanding of the thickness of the socks.
And wrapping is the second difference between cycling socks and ordinary socks.
If a pair of socks is not elastic, it cannot wrap the feet. Compared with ordinary socks, cycling socks have higher requirements for wrapping. Some cycling socks that emphasize competitive performance will also use yarn with highly elastic materials in the tube to create a "micro-compression" sports muscle effect!
There are two factors that affect the wrapping of cycling socks: the quality of spandex and whether rubber bands are added. Ordinary socks do not add rubber bands or only add a circle of rubber bands at the sock opening or arch of the foot. Because elastic will increase the difficulty of knitting socks and increase the defective rate, ordinary socks do not require so much wrapping, so naturally they will not add too much elastic... But good cycling socks will even cover 3/4 of the sock body with elastic, ensuring that the socks will not slip or shift during cycling, and with compression tailoring, the overall wrapping of the sock body is more even, and there will be no excessive compression and obstruction of blood flow.
Next is the fabric. Most sock sellers will boast about how good the cotton used in their socks is with pictures and texts.
But one thing to note: although cotton has many advantages such as skin-friendly, moisture-absorbing, breathable, and antibacterial, it is not easy to dry. Therefore, if it is a short-term (3 hours) leisure ride, socks with high cotton content (including cycling socks) are a better choice, but if it is a long time or riding in low temperatures such as winter, pure cotton socks are not a good choice, so don't be superstitious that pure cotton is absolutely good.
Finally, some people will choose sports socks for cycling, which is actually not very recommended.
Although sports socks have good wrapping and breathability, badminton, basketball and other sports require a lot of sudden changes in footsteps, so thickness is more important (for foot protection and wear resistance). Thick-soled socks will have a soft shock-absorbing effect when stepped on, which is naturally not a good thing for cyclists who value efficiency. This is the same as the principle of cycling shoes vs sports shoes.