Thinking about building up a 26" wheel touring bike using an old steel mountain bike frame. Might need to be threaded or unthreaded, not sure yet, haven't bought the frame!
The forks on my Singular Peregrine can take a rack but they're 700c and quite long so may not be suitable for you
Kona P2 fork fitted to the Sutra has rack mounts, used with 700c as standard but should be ok with 26" as they're pretty short.
Can you buy them separately? I thought of them too, but can't find them anywhere...
Dawes Sardar was a 26inch wheeled bike with lowrider mounts. Might be worth a call to them, but the model has not been done for two years so could be a long shot
Or how about the racks that use the cantibosses as mounts?I have been googling ...
Found these ,bloody ugly but may work
Hmmm, those Thorn forks might just be the ones. Thanks!!
Have a look at the Surley range, they do a few.
I'm in the process of doing the same thing with an old steel Kona frame. Just bought some P2s from activesport, they've got rack mounts, but I'm looking at the OMM rack that uses canti bosses.
[url= http://activesport.co.uk/shop/article_400.FK20.0.100/Kona-Project-2-Forks.html?shop_param=cid%3D1782%26aid%3D400.FK20.0.100%26 ]Kona P2[/url]
I think the Surly forks might be too low- it's prob gonna need to be suspension corrected. Are you sure the Kona P2's have rack mounts?
These are the P2 forks I bought this week. They don't have a mid-fork mount, only the lower and a cantilever mount,and brake bosses but I'm pretty sure thats enough.
[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4028/4716539071_eec3e7dddf.jp g" target="_blank">
How heavy are you planning on loading the front rack? Tubus do some adaptors to replace the need for mid-fork mounts (Tubus LM-1 or LM-BF depending on fork thickness) that seem very solid and quite cheap (Wiggle do them and they're between 8 and 11 quid). I'm using the LM-1 version on my Roadrat and they seem to do a good job.
There is a long-running thread about steel forks with rack mounts on crazyguyonabike and they did seem to like those Thorn ones, although they don't have disk mounts which some might not like.
It looks like there are a few solutions.
[url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=14340 ]Front rack[/url]
I've not checked to see if they do disc ones, but there is a range of steel forks on the Fisher Outdoor Leisure site. Possibly worth checking?
Old Man Mountain make some great racks that attach via the axle and the brake bosses. I have the Cold Springs front rack, and it is excellent. They do mountain high riding racks or road low rider versions.
You can get them from www.carradice.co.uk
I bought this rather than the Mt. Tura because my frame is rather old and compensated for a fork with only 50mm of travel. This is a really great fork and after several months of riding, I couldn’t be happier with it. The 48mm rake results in a really comfortable and stable ride. Compared to a straight tube fork, it really soaks up the road vibration. Perhaps it is due to the twin plate crown, but this fork has does not flex or “wind up” when you steer with weight on the front racks. The brake bosses on the trailing edge of the fork tubes reduce brake chatter/squealing and keep the brakes out of the way of the bags. The Thorn racks look nice, but I had a JANDD expedition rack that I wanted to use with this fork. I had to add some small spacers (fat washers) to mate the rack to the fork braze-ons (which are by the way really sturdy), but that was no big deal. This is a well designed and built product which has exceeded my expectations in all ways. Before, buying this fork, I performed an exhaustive search for a 26” wheel fork with rack mounts. I am now convinced that there is no fork of comparable quality available at any price. I have the matted green finish, which I think looks pretty cool.