Originally Posted by
UberIM
And mounting a rack on my Unit (sounds obscene)-we had a problem with heel clearance......
That's unfortunate. I drilled and tapped the track fork ends on my Redline Monocog 29er for rack and fender eyelets, and it has worked well (now tested with many thousands of loaded miles, including 3200 mile solo tour with camping load). A quick Google search indicates my chainstays are about 1 cm longer (less than half inch) than yours, and I wear a US size 10.5 shoe.
Do your panniers have rounded lower front corners? My (discontinued) Axiom panniers do, as do Ortliebs, I think. It adds some clearance.