Classic & Vintage - Columbus Question (not the explorer)

Hello,

My wife is considering purchasing a NOS 99' steel Casati sans fork. Do you all think it would be difficult to find a fork that fits a 19cm headtube... Sadly, this build would be to replace a recently departed Ciocc. Unfortunately, she has the Ciocc fork but it fits an 18cm headtube (not the required 19cm). At any rate, is it difficult to find a Columbus fork? Are they still made (not carbon)? In general, what are the going rates for such a fork?

Thanks a bunch!

Yes,
Don't think so (except custom),
Your right nut.

if you can't find it on ebay...

yeah, that's a rarity.

i believe that a torelli columbus steel fork could be installed, however the retail price is $300, probably making the casati frame a much less financially attractive proposition.
you'd want to contact R&A cycles( the seller & former casati importer/distributor) to determine the rake of the OEM casati fork. I would assume that since they sold columbus carbon forks as an casati option on their website, the torelli's 45mm rake would be a good match but you'd definately want to get everything straightened out and clear before bidding.

I found a NOS colnago chrome fork on ebay a few months back, it has the clover pantograph on the crown, no lettering there, and colnago stamped dropouts. It was less than $100 shipped. I put it on my bottechia:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/bottecchia011.jpg

I would recommend doing what norskagent did and start looking at the international ebay listing. They tend to have more "stuff" of that type for less. The exception will be the shipping, but still not all that bad. I think I remember seeing a chrome Merckx fork going for cheap. I'll check it out for you.

here is the seller of my colnago fork: http://www.cafedevelo.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=278
They sell for more $ direct from them, not sure if they still ebay them.

Hello,

Thanks everyone for the info & advice.. Although I rarely post, these boards have been invaluable to me as you all have answered many of my questions over the years... At any rate, I will begin the ebay international hunt. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I could just purchase a chromoly fork from any number of distributers just to get my wife back on her bike asap. Thanks again!

The Merckx chrome fork is going for 75 Euro. I bet though he would take 50. If you're interested I get forward you the link. Lates!