Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
The original impetus for me asking about how to measure a fork's rake was because I found an old geometry chart for my model bike. However, the chart I found doesn't indicate the model year so I'm not 100% positive on it being accurate for my bike. Anyway, this geo chart indicates a 74-degree HTA, and 40mm rake. 40mm rake forks are not terribly common if I have to replace, and a 43mm fork rake (more common), seem to yield a pretty low trail figure of 53mm (40mm rake fork gives me 56mm of trail). Maybe nothing to worry about but would prefer not to change the handling if avoidable.
That's probably a similar trail you'd find on a Merckx. But 40s aren't that uncommon, and a steel fork can be turned into a 40.
There's a lot of things that go into fork replacement, which is why we mostly treat frames and forks as a set. Most crashes that will total a fork aren't too gentle on the frame.