Hi.

I see the bent fork jokes on here constantly. I'm not trying to be funny with this thread, though. I recall the first old steel road frame i ever bought, some sort of mid-line peugeot that i bought about 9 years ago. The fork was waaaaaaaay bent, but i didn't notice il i put a wheel in it. took the wheel out, looked again, and it was very very noticeably bent. I figured that's what it was.

However, i just read the thread about the guy with the NR-equipped blue ralieh international that he got off ebay with the bum downtube and other issues. Some ppl called it out for having a bent fork. I couldn't see it, from the pictures. Someone mentioned that the front wheel looked offset; i sometimes find that i need to straighten front wheels as i tighten them into the fork. That fact, coupled with the ubiquitous bent fork jokes on here, has got me terribly freekin' paranoid that all my forks are bent...

What is, in everyone's experience, the best way to determine a fork's straightness?

thanks,
-rob