I've been riding brakeless for a while. The only reason I have is because the brakes i've dug out of bins aren't long enough to reach my front rim (the original tires were huge but rusted and the one i got used from my lbs is only a 700cc) from where the frame is drilled up top on the fork for a brake. Are there any cheap brakes i can buy online that might be able to deal with this? (I've got cyclocross tires on right now for the winter if that makes any difference)

thanks!

Tires don't matter; it's the rim that sets the distance from the braking surface to the brake mounting hole.

Dia Compe has made long-reach (and also ultra-short reach) brakes for a long time. You can usually find them fairly cheaply on eBay. Also Tektro has some inexpensive nice brakes with long reach and you can buy them online or through many shops. Last, there's a long-reach version of the Shimano Ultegra, in the R700 series, which can do the job for you. The Ultegra is probably the stiffest, the Dia Compe will have the absolutely longest reach, and the Tektro will be by far the cheapest. Any of them will be a good brake for your needs.

just checked the distance. from the brake hole to my rim is approximately 3 inches which is out of the reach of even the "long reach" style
maybe it'd just be cheaper to get a new (used) cheap fork

try bmx brakes..

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brake-calipers.html

sheldonbrown is a god