Anto,
If you were here on 'Merka, I'd urge you away from the ones I bought to use on tour. They smell like Death...or rather, my feet do. Their previous ones were fine, but even fresh out of the laundry, after three minutes' wearing, I'm awfully glad my feet are as far as possible from my nose. If only it would kill mosquitoes, I wouldn't mind the odor but I now fear it attracts them.
For proof...watch me get eaten alive while wearing them: https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B4oEGx6B0gzBWlpEZHIyTnZtMWc/edit
Best,
Dan.
Perhaps there is a healthy microbial population?
I started carrying a 1 oz (30 ml) bottle of chlorine bleach to use as an emergency water purifier, 2 to 4 drops per liter should do for most bad water sources. If you have access to any chlorine bleach, you might want to try soaking the socks in some water with perhaps a double dose of bleach (4 to 8 drops per liter) for an hour? That should kill off any microbes that are causing your odor problem.
A good soak of the shoes may also be in order. If I recall, you had trouble finding a good shoe pedal combination, so soaking the shoes may not be practical if you have to ride with them the next day. When I tour, I use pedals with SPD on one side, non-cleated other side (Shimano M324) so I can wear any shoe on my pedals. When my bike shoes have been soaked I have toured with regular shoes while the bike shoes dry out.
Source of my dosage info:
http://water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep/emergencydisinfection.cfmI have heard that natural fibers (cotton, wool, etc.) are less likely to smell, thus this is one more vote for wool. On my recent tour, I used thin wool socks over thin synthetic liner socks, the two layers were for better padding. I washed them in the sink every afternoon or evening, they rarely were dry enough the next day so it was a good thing I had several extra sets.
