pepperbelly

Is anyone wearing bamboo socks while riding?
Are they delicate or do they last like cotton socks?

Iride01 

Cotton doesn't seem appropriate for a cycling forum. Perhaps for a lose outer layer or a T-shirt. But certainly not for anything next to the skin that needs to move with you and have some support when wet with sweat.

So if bamboo socks compare themselves to cotton, consider them for times when you are off the bike and not sweating.

pepperbelly

Bamboo is moisture wicking and somewhat antibacterial.

smd4

Too many splinters.

biker128pedal

I had a pair of bamboo sock. These were for cold weather. They weren’t soft and comfortable. The wicked moisture. But the pair I had were too thick and warm for summer. They wore a hole in the heal rather soon.

Pearly’s possum hair socks are also warm.

Inusuit

Beware of pandas when wearing those socks.

Iride01 

Then my other two questions will be if it loses it's support as it gets wet with sweat as does cotton. Or does it become abrasive to the skin when wet with sweat as does cotton?

Have you found a pair of bamboo socks that claim to be good for cycling?

pepperbelly

I just started looking. This heat here has me thinking cotton really isn’t the fabric of our lives. I change socks and underwear at least once per day. I bought some bamboo boxers and was wondering if the socks would be useful.

wolfchild

Wool is the best fabric for socks and that's what I prefer using. Best thing about wool is that it works great in both hot and cold weather.

Iride01 

When I started walking with my wife up to 80 to a few times a 100 miles a week just before I got back into cycling, I found out the cotton wasn't the fabric for my life. My cotton briefs would soak up all the sweat and then stretch out of shape and wad up between my legs and rub sores where my legs rubbed together. Since then it's been the synthetic fiber sports underwear and socks for me. Cotton is very comfortable for the times I'm going to be dry. But that's not when I'm working in the yard or exercising.

So get something that has cycling in their advertisement. Or at least for sporting activities. If bamboo does, then try them and let us know.

blacknbluebikes 

Good socks are getting kind of expensive (said every generation), but I've been really happy with the Bombas and the SmartWool cycling socks. The SmartWool are about 1/2 Merino wool, then synthetic; the Bombas are mostly synth with some cotton. Both hold up well in all respects.

Trakhak

I've been wearing bamboo socks for the last 12 months or so, on and off the bike. They are, indeed, antibacterial; I have to remember to wash them at regular intervals, because there's no odor after repeated uses. They're very comfortable, too. I've now retired my cotton blend and wool blend socks.

The only hit against them is that the first bamboo socks I bought were no more durable than wool blend socks. But now I buy bamboo with reinforced heels and toes, and these seem much more durable.

pepperbelly

What brand?

Trakhak

The first that came up in an Amazon search for "reinforced toe heel bamboo socks." Six pair for $31.

1SOCK2SOCK - Men's 6 Pack Bamboo Blend Thin Crew Socks - Super Soft, Breathable, and Colorful Dress Socks

downtube42

My wife hand knits a ton of socks, almost exclusively with wool but has used bamboo. I have a drawer full of colorful and warm wool socks I use for winter cycling.

Bamboo is a summer yarn. Cool, wicking, comfortable, strong. Honestly I just use store-bought cotton socks in the summer. If I lived in a hotter or humid climate I might use something else.

spelger

i wear cotton socks when cycling. never had an issue. temps here today are 100F but also only 7% humidity, that probably plays a role.

Trakhak

I wore bamboo socks throughout the winter. Not appreciably different from wool regarding warmth. I was using Mavic winter shoes, so maybe that made a difference, along with the socks being machine knit rather than hand knit.

Black wallnut 

FIFY

Worst two things about wool are that it may cause itching and has real durability issues. A third issue is special washing instructions depending on wool and blend. I have used smartwool and have found they are comfortable but are not durable and do tend to shrink with washing.

I have had better durability with both Wright sock and Areo Tech Coolmax.

Bamboo makes for great fly rods, flooring, utensils, ISO container decking and many other uses.

Galoot

"Bamboo" is just a fancy way of saying "rayon". It is another type of rayon fabric. Been around for many decades in some form or another.

pepperbelly

I thought they might be something special but I guess not.
I will keep wearing my Adidas athletic socks. They are polyester and should be fine for cycling.

jaxgtr

I swear by these... Been using them for years for cycling and non cycling. It has been uber hot here this year and my feet stay nice and dry. Nothing beats merino wool cycling socks.

CAT7RDR

Had to look it up but spot on.
Rayon is the end process of bamboo.

Juan Foote

In my own experience with the "bamboo" materials, I find most of the keywords and cause to be purely artificial, if not fully made up. I tried a shirt, some socks, and some sheets for the bed that were supposedly going to breathe better, wick moisture, all those keywords that seem so attractive. I prefer and get better performance from cotton.

smd4

“They’re hunting socks, sir.”

”At this hour?”

downtube42

Well that was quite the rabbit hole. Interesting. All fabric called bamboo is created with the rayon process, not all rayon processed fabric is from bamboo. Per my wife the knitter, the % of bamboo matters a lot in the feel; higher is silkier. She says it knits more like cotton than wool, whatever that means. She's a yarn snob; rarely does she use cotton and never ever acrylic. Bamboo is something she'd use for knitting lightweight socks, as opposed to wool or alpaca for warmth.

Aside, from my perspective as a connoisseur of hand-knit and purchased socks, hand-knit are warmer and my preference for cycling, machine made have a tighter knit which is more comfortable for hiking.