Touring - lowrider front rack with no fork-end eyelets

I'm thinking of getting a Jamis Nova for a long tour. the front fork has low-rider eyelets in the middle, but it doesn't look like it has eyelets near the fork-end. Are clamps available to accomodate for this? I checked the old man mountain site. it said they could fabricate anything, but I don't really want to go that route if I can more easily find something already manufactured.

tim

I looked at a pic of the Nova and must say that's odd. Of course one could argue having a carbon fork on a touring bike is odd too.

To answer your question... I don't know of any racks that use clamps down at eyelet level... mid-fork level-sure, lots of them do but down in your front dropout... nope.

Also, keep in mind... on any rack-rear or front-the most weight/pressure is brought to bear at the dropout eyelets. Hence, it's not really the place I would want to be using any type of clamp.

Perhaps look at a different bike for your tour?

might be simpler and cheaper to have your lbs switch out the fork for a nice
steel touring fork with dual eyelets for rack and fenders.

I have an old man mountain front rack (not the low rider type) and it does not need eyelets since it rests on the quick release skewer. That type of rack would work for you. Also, I use a front rack (again, not the low rider type) on my commuter bike which is held on exclusively with clamps. I've never had any problem with it over the years (since late 1990s). From my experience, clamps seem to work ok, at least with my type of rack.

I saw last years model of a Jamis recently and perplexed by the fork too. I believe the fork I saw was steel but it did have a mid fork braze-on and hidden behind the drop out was one braze-on there. It was fairly hidden (ie no curviture of the drop out, just a threaded hole). Did you actually see the fork in person or just off the website? It might be hidden like the one I saw.
good luck,
scott

yeah...I just found a close-up pic of the fork. the eyelets are there on the tip, just very well hidden. In any case, I won the ebay auction for it last night. my first geared bike purchase. I'm thinking I will want to get rid of the brake/shifters and do downtube shifters. and I'll need to put on a triple and change some of the rear cogs to get a good touring cassette. I'm sure you'll hear more from me in the future.

tim

I'm not sure if you meant that, but downtube shifters are not a good idea. Maybe you want bar-end shifters but downtube shifters are not used much for a reason. Try the STI, most the cycling world loves em... 10,000 cyclists can't be wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong again, but doesn't it already have a tripple?
congrats and good luck,
scott

the one I'm getting has a double. The previous owner may have changed it. Hopefully it did come with a tripple, then I won't have to change the BB (assuming he didn't change it with the crank) to get clearence for the little ring.

tim