Touring - Brake/Pannier Clearance Issues

My newly built-up 80's MTB has Avid Shorty brakes installed, which I picked since I'll be using road brake levers and for the "retro" look. I had planned to bite the financial bullet & order some Bruce Gordon racks, mainly because I like the high front rack w/shelf, but was informed that there would be clearance issues with the cantilever brakes & the panniers and I would have to either get lower profile brakes or get some "extra-wide" racks. I hate to replace brand new brakes, which are perfectly good, but am also not sure if I want racks that are 8" or so wide on there just to clear the brakes. Maybe the wide racks would be okay but I suppose I could just go with a lowrider front, such as the Tubus Tara, and avoid the issue. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone else have the "wide" Bruce Gordon racks & do they look out of place on your rig? Will the Tubus Tara allow me to use my Yakima fork-mount rack on my car or will it get in the way? So many questions...

I ran into the same problem last year. I ended up keeping the lowriders . I had thought about welding a rack that was offset more to the front so it would clear the brakes. But I felt I was putting two much weight in front of the fork which might make it twitchy.

Bruce's Rack looks like a reasonable solution,the rack is narrower in the front and then widens over the brakes so I don't think it would look weird.
rackhttp://www.bgcycles.com/images/rack_mtn.jpg


BTW all of the lowrider racks I know of are going to be problem on a fork mount

My newly built-up 80's MTB has Avid Shorty brakes installed, which I picked since I'll be using road brake levers and for the "retro" look. I had planned to bite the financial bullet & order some Bruce Gordon racks, mainly because I like the high front rack w/shelf, but was informed that there would be clearance issues with the cantilever brakes & the panniers and I would have to either get lower profile brakes or get some "extra-wide" racks. I hate to replace brand new brakes, which are perfectly good, but am also not sure if I want racks that are 8" or so wide on there just to clear the brakes. Maybe the wide racks would be okay but I suppose I could just go with a lowrider front, such as the Tubus Tara, and avoid the issue. Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone else have the "wide" Bruce Gordon racks & do they look out of place on your rig? Will the Tubus Tara allow me to use my Yakima fork-mount rack on my car or will it get in the way? So many questions...

I have a Yakima copperhead rack on my wife's car and a Tara on my touring bike. The open front of the Tara makes it a breeze to put on top of the car. The rack just hangs down below the rack a little.