After a lot of researching and deliberation, I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a custom fork. There is a local frame builder who will do it for $200.

The bike I currently have has the following geometry:

Headtube Angle: 71.5
Fork Rake: 40mm
Chainstays: 43cm
Top tube: 57cm
Trail: 74mm

The fork I want to have made will have 55mm of rake. This will drop the trail down to 59 and since the builder is local I can take the stock fork to him so he can make the new one the exact same length, taking out that variable in regards to the angles.

I'm currently running a cheap aftermarket fork with 50mm of rake and I like the ride of the bike. However, the fork is hideously ugly (thin unicrown). I thought about buying a Cross Check fork (44mm of rake) but decided that if it's worth $100 to get less than half-way to where I want to be, then it's worth an extra $100 to get what I really want.

Is moving to a fork with 15mm more rake than the original bike had likely to throw anything out of balance in regards to handling? Adding 10mm didn't so I'm assuming 5mm more would be fine but you never know.

I would actually prefer to just buy a new frame in the Surly/Soma price range but what I can't find what I want, which is basically a fairly stout cro-moly frame with road bike type angles that is spaced for 135mm hubs.