I hadn't thought about the disk breaks being that much of a benefit but I also noticed the Elite Disk has carbon fork AND eyelets for a rack and for only $770 it still looks like a steal.

Since weight of the forks alone isn't enough to make or break a touring bike is there any downside to having carbon forks? It's my assumption the "perfect touring fork" would be steel & bent (or ample rake) rather than carbon and straight.