Cantilever brakes with STI shifter
 

I'm considering buying a cyclocross fork for my commuter bike. I've seen these with dropouts for fender mounts and I don't care if it's steel or not. I currently have my front fender zipped tied on top and a home made bracket for the bottom. I'd like a better mounting system for the front fender. The back fender mounted fine and I intend to leave it alone.

Question #1 - Will the canti brakes work with my STI brifter?
Question #2 - How do you determine what fork to buy? Mine has a 1 1/8 steer tube but I don't know what else to measure. For instance, fork length, rake etc.

Thanks for your help.

My bike
http://i.buzznet.com/img/1820372/large.jpg

An example of the type of fork I'm looking at buying.
http://i.buzznet.com/img/2238560/large.jpg

http://i.buzznet.com/img/2238564/large.jpg

Yes a canti will work with STI. Thats the setup most cyclocross bikes use.
Your fork lenght and rake will change from your former fork to allow for more clearance and I doubt you will much choice in those numbers any way. As long as the steerer tube is long enough (which a new one should be) the only improtant number will be the steer size.
A cyclocross fork will probably change the handling little but it should be reasonable.
Craig

I just bought and installed a new fork. My old fork was dead straight, new one has a rake/curve to it. The difference is negligable. So as logn as your not getting somethign made for a childrens bike, you'll be fine.

But if your going for a new fork.....look for one with disc brake mounts also. Then later on if you want to slap a disc on the front, your able to. Cost between one with and without is probably minimal.

I got a carbon cyclocross fork with disc mounts thru nashbar at a decent price

Even though the two forks looked very different I bet there was very little if any difference in the rake. The straight fork just connects the two points between the steered and the dropout with the shortest line while the curved fork adds a bend to the connection in the hopes that the flex will smooth the ride a little. The actually geometries between the two are identical.
Now if you went from a track fork to a touring fork then its likely the rake changed some as these are designed with quite different headtube angles in mind, so the rake has to compensate somewhat.
Craig