By Dave Batka – Founder of Wheels Manufacturing

Cycling Socks. Proper attire for any occasion or just a bad fashion statement.

When did cycling socks become something people wear every day? I’ve had cycling specific socks forever. In my early years racing we had wool socks for cold weather and super thin socks for hot weather. The shoes were always too tight and thinner the better. I used to ride Dettos that had a wood sole and a thin leather upper. Heck socks were just there to avoid blisters and try to help with the dreaded “hot foot” we get from cycling shoes.

Now we got all these sock options. Cool roadies go with ankle high (or higher) white socks. Commuters can get screaming yellow socks to wear, hoping to keep that texting high school kid from hitting them with their car. You can still go low. My choice to show off them veins and calf muscles. Or you can even go knee high “compression” with the hopes of keeping your legs from looking all nasty and veiny like my 55 year old pair. You can get them with shop names on them, bike names on them, flames, flags, and even turd emojis. I’d be willing to bet the average cyclist now has 20 damn pairs of the things rotting somewhere in the closet.

At some point the cycling sock morphed from necessary equipment to fashion statement. I don’t think its cool to wear your cycling socks to board meetings, job interviews, or weddings, but that’s where I see them. What gives? I’m pretty sure it is just laziness. Why go buy real socks when you have a drawer full of these things?

I’d love to hear from you with your comments at BPDtechguy@gmail.com.