I don't like the idea of trying to find a replacement fork because the frame and fork were designed to go together - a change on the for geometry affects everything. For that reason, I've only ever bought frame-and-fork combos - with one exception. For that one, I bought (traded for, actually,) the frame only. It was a true grail for me (mid-60s Cinelli, written about at length elsewhere in C&V) in a not-common size (64cm ctc), so i did it. I didn't even think to check the alignment other than eyeballing. Not smart.

I had a fork for it, though. Same maker, a few years older, that came from a frame that was rusted out. The fact that I had the fork was the reason I was willing to get the frame only. The steerer tube needed to be lengthened, which was easily done by Ed Litton. So I have a cobbled together kinda-sorta Frankenframe, although frame and fork are both from Cinelli.

The result? Only the nest riding bike I have ever owned, the one I reach for 80 or 90% of the time. The one someone will have to pry out of my cold, dead hands.

I doubt if I will buy a frame-only again, though. There is nothing I want so much that I would be willing to deal with finding-the-right-fork issues.