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review

Sugoi RS Crew Sock

6
£9.99

VERDICT:

6
10
Nice-fitting, decent length sock, but tufting of logos is disappointing...
Weight: 
43g

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The Sugoi RS Crew is a decent, comfortable cycling-specific sock, but for £10 a pair you might want them to look good for longer.

In terms of performance, the RS Crew is a good sock. It fits well, has reinforcing in the right places and breathable bits in others. It's generous of length, too – not too long, not too short, a Goldilocks 'just right' for me.

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My feet were comfortable in them, even on long, hard rides in hot conditions. The sizing was pretty much spot on, and they didn't shrink in the wash either. It's hard to write more about a sock that's not, say, specific to extreme cold weather, or waterproofness. Socks are socks, and these are fine.

Unless you really care about what your socks look like. For some cyclists, they are up there with casquettes and bar tape... a low-cost, easily changeable accessory that can speak volumes about your affiliation, sartorial appreciation (or lack thereof) and respect for the history and culture of le vélo. Let your socks become slack, saggy, stained or – horrors – perforated, and you send a message of disregard for self and kit, and by extension the whole of cycling and people therein. Or, they're simply the thing that goes between your foot and your shoe, the aesthetics of which will have no bearing on your enjoyment of the ride.

> More road.cc sock reviews here

If you fall in to that first group, you won't be impressed with the RS Crew. After just three trips around a 30-degree wool wash cycle, inside out, with no other abrasive garment in sight, the logo on the rear of both socks had frayed into centimetre-long tendrils of polyester, standing out as red tufts of insouciance against the black background...

If you want a pair of socks that work well and keep your feet happy, and you're not so bothered about how they look, go ahead and buy these; they're good. But for £10 a pair, for me anyway, I can't recommend them.

Verdict

Nice-fitting, decent length sock, but tufting of logos is disappointing...

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Sugoi RS Crew Sock

Size tested: Medium

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Sugoi says: "Technical performance socks designed to complete an RS kit."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Lightweight moisture wicking nylon/spandex blend for better comfort on long runs

Reinforced toe and heel for durability

Anatomically correct left and right foot construction

Structured arch support

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
7/10

Seem put together well enough.

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10

Durability of socks themselves seems good, durability of logo is another matter...

Rate the product for fit:
 
8/10
Rate the product for sizing:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight:
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort:
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

A tenner isn't cheap, but about average for technical socks. Unless you really care about the logos...

How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?

Socks in general? Fine. Effect on logo, pretty poor.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

OK, if you disregard the looks.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The length.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

The tufts. The tufts.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes, if I pretended I wasn't trailing tufts in my wake.

Would you consider buying the product? No

Would you recommend the product to a friend? If they didn't care about their sock look...

Use this box to explain your score

The socks themselves do good job of keeping your feet happy, and had the logos stayed fresh, would have scored higher.

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 43  Height: 183cm  Weight: 72kg

I usually ride: Merida Ride 5000 Disc  My best bike is:

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: A few times a week  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo-cross, club rides, general fitness riding, mountain biking, Dutch bike pootling

Living in the Highlands, Mike is constantly finding innovative and usually cold/wet ways to accelerate the degradation of cycling kit. At his happiest in a warm workshop holding an anodised tool of high repute, Mike's been taking bikes apart and (mostly) putting them back together for forty years. With a day job in global IT (he's not completely sure what that means either) and having run a boutique cycle service business on the side for a decade, bikes are his escape into the practical and life-changing for his customers.

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