Shimano-owned component brand Pro has historically concentrated on road parts, but for 2010 it’s got an all-new range of MTB bars, stems, saddles and grips split into four categories. The Athertons and Thomas Vanderham have had some input into the design of the DH and freeride parts respectively, and those ranges carry their names. The all-mountain (the least specialist and therefore likely to be the most popular) parts are dubbed Koryak, while the lightweight XC bits carry the XCR name.

The Atherton DH bits include some distinctly specialist parts, including stumpy 250mm seatposts, a direct-mount stem and super-high-rise bars as seen on Dan Atherton’s 4X bike. There’s also a hollow titanium-railed saddle and closed-end lock-on grips that make it comfy to use the full width of the bar.

The Koryak stuff looks pretty tidy, with a black and bronze colour scheme and distinctive touches like the grill-style stem faceplate and single-bolt wedge clamp seatpost. The post is 400mm long to accommodate increasingly low-slung frames. Bars are 685mm wide and made from butted 2014 aluminium.

If you want to ride off stuff, the Vanderham line is probably your bag – it’s all meaty stuff, with even the grips having chunky closed aluminium ends. At the other end of the scale is the XCR kit, including carbon fibre bars and a stem with a neat interlocking face plate design that does away with upper bolts.

Possibly the most startling product in the Pro lineup is the full-carbon rigid fork, launched to run alongside the existing carbon/aluminium unit. The full-carbon XCR fork comes in at a startling 565g – if you’re after low weight at any cost and don’t need bounce, this is your fork. Axle-to-crown length is 445mm, so it’s best as a straight swap for a 100mm travel suspension fork.

Find out more at www.madison.co.uk.