First look: 595g full-carbon mountain bike fork from PRO

Composite legs, crown and steerer

PRO XCR fork

James Costley-White/BikeRadar

James Costley-White

Published: September 26, 2009 at 7:00 am

Designers at Shimano componentry offshoot PRO have come up with a superlight new rigid mountain bike fork.

Unlike many 'carbon' cross-country forks which have alloy crowns or steerers, the XCR is made entirely of unidirectional carbon fibre.

It has Post Mount disc brake tabs, a 350mm steerer tube and weighs in at a claimed 595g (1.3lb). RRP is £299.99 and it should be available in mid-November 2009.

Shimano make an XCR carbon bar, alloy stem and alloy bar-ends to match. For full details see pro-bikegear.com. The full steering setup is claimed to weigh a featherlight 850g, but it'll cost you around £550.

James Costley-White

Group editor, Mountain Biking UK and Cycling Plus

James is the group editor of the best-selling magazines Mountain Biking UK and Cycling Plus, and their associated digital editions and websites. He has worked on MBUK since 2013, became editor in 2019 and took over at Cycling Plus in 2024. An NCTJ-qualified senior journalist with a postgraduate diploma from Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, JCW joined the cycling media world in 2012. Previously, he’d worked as a reporter and sub-editor on daily newspapers. After a stint as operations editor on BikeRadar, he worked for Triathlon Plus and the ahead-of-its-time ChopMTB. JCW has been an avid cyclist his whole life, progressing from a Chopper-style Raleigh Commando to a Raleigh Sprint road bike before discovering mountain biking in 1992. Since then, he’s amassed a huge amount of knowledge and riding experience, in the UK and abroad. He can often be found riding the trails of South Wales on his latest long-term test bike or custom-built RAAW Jibb, hitting North Somerset cycle paths with his kids, scything down the Cheddar Gorge on his road bike or heading to work on his mutant e-commuter. As well as editing MBUK and Cycling Plus, JCW contributes regular product reviews and other articles.

Height: 6ft 2in (188cm)
Bike size: XL