MTB

Madison Isoler 3-Season Merino MTB Sock Review

It may be chilly outside, but your toes will stay toasty with a snug pair of these Madison Isoler Merino socks on your feet.

Designed for mountain biking in 3 seasons, the cosy merino wool keeps things snug enough for cool days, without being too bulky or thick.

The anti-pong properties of merino wool are well advertised, and did their job admirably in these socks, even evading the damp shoe smell that seems to permanently permeate my winter MTB footwear.

I’m a UK size 7 or EU 40, and tried the size large. According to the size guide this size suits EU 43 to 46, but actually I didn’t find them particularly big on me.

A polyester and merino mix is used for the toe and heel region, to make the fabric a little more robust on the areas that see the most abrasion. Several long rides later and it seems to be doing the trick!

Madison also say that because of the merino wool, the socks ‘retain their thermal properties when wet’. After a number of encounters with rain, mud, muddy puddles, small rivers that formed over the trail, and so on, I can say with certainty this is indeed the case. Warm feet despite wet socks is a selling point as far as I’m concerned, and the fact they didn’t loose their stretch or get too heavy when wet either adds even more value.

I’ve had merino socks before where one or two washes in, and they’ve bobbled and shrunk from perfect foot covers to gnarled balls of wool. Not with these socks! Yes, they went a bit bobbly and fluffy, mostly on the toe and heel areas, but they’ve kept their shape and stretch.

However, they did shrink a tiny bit, so if you are at the top of one of the sizing ranges, it’s worth going up a size.

Ribbing around the ankle keeps them up, and another band around the foot keeps them in place. I didn’t need to pull them up halfway through the ride, or retrieve them from the bottom of my shoe where a lot of my socks seem to work their way into.

VERDICT

These are a great sock for riding in cool weather, wet weather, on muddy trails – which makes them ideal for mountain biking in the UK most of the year! And at £7.99 a pair, they’re reasonably priced too.