Why are front fork braze ons in behind the fork?
 

I have been looking at various bikes, either bikes I can use as tourers or bikes designed specifically for touring. One thing I have noticed is the braze ons are behind the fork instead of in front.

I have yet to mount a front rack but it seems to me it would make more sense to have the braze ons, in front of the fork. Why are they placed behind the fork?

Behind the fork ends is better for fenders, which are alot more common than front racks. You could get one of those old man mountain racks that mounts through the front wheel quick release. Spendy but nice. I believe the LHT fork comes with double eyelets on the fork, which is what you're looking for, the Fuji touring bike has them also (but I dont know anything else about that bike). The lighter tourers probably wont have them.

Yes, behind the fork is for fenders. If they don't have any in the front you can get clips for the rack.

Lowrider front racks are designed for eyelets behind the fork; most tourists these days use lowrider type front racks, so I guess manufacturers of touring frames decided to save 50 cents and not place eyelets on the front for platform type front racks. The Surly LHT fork has eyelets both front and back which provides more options for those of us who want more options; that is one reason I opted for a LHT.

Front and back eyelets are a comonplace, I have them on my mountainbike too. As BWG says low riders are the norm, and they are put on the lower rear ones. None of these eyelets are designed for racks, and the parts regularly fail when used on uber long tours, due to the fender weight 5mm threading.

There are two eyelets because some fenders use 2 or more front wires. There is only one frame pass by to attach the fender to up front, so extra wires can be used. These days, that is considered antiquated as most front fenders are short in the forward extension and this doesn't affect coverage. While good touring bikes often have the double eyelet, As BWG notes, most touring rigs don't actually use both of them.

What should be, are no eyelets, two massive front braze ons for minimum 6mm bolts, and the fenders should attach to the rack and be designed for the 6 mm bolts. Integration of the fenders and racks is better still