ushuaia

Hello all,

I've been some time looking for a MTB with chro-mo frame for touring purposes. In these
aluminium days it's hard enough to find any new MTB with steel frame (besides Marin, who even
makes them?), and if you, as I do, want it with rigid front fork too it's a mission impossible.
Well, it looks now that I've finally found one second-hand reliable brand MTB with all these
qualities, but the front fork doesn't have the eyelets/braze-on to attach a front-rack.. I know
that it is possible to use clamps, but I'm not very convinced of the durability of that solution
for several months tour..

What do you think? Are there any solutions to this problem, or should I just forget this bike
and keep on searching..?

CdCf

I bought an MTB a few months ago. I plan to use it for touring, and it came with a suspension fork without eyelets. Early next week, my new rigid steel fork, with eyelets (only one pair) will arrive, along with a few other things.
Just because it comes with a certain fork doesn't mean you can't replace it...

DocF

Lack of eyelets is not as major an issue as one might think. Old Man Mountain makes racks which mount to the axle and to brake bosses. There are many adapter available from them to allow their racks to fit almost any bike. I bought the Red Rock rear rack and the Expidition Lowrider for our tandem. They are very high quality and worth the price.

Link:Old Man Mountain

Doc

saddlesores

i bought a nos frame/fork on ebay to build up, but fork was too short for
the stem and spacers i wanted. replaced with a new fork, so now i have
this new cromo mtb fork lying around. has one set of eyelets and canti
bosses. send me your email and i'll give you all the specifics and send a
photo as well. oh yeah, it's green.

Schumius

bought a kona rigid fork which doesnīt have eyelets either, what we are going to do is to drill a hole and then we can fit the tubus tara on. i just saw another identical fork in a local shop("very cheap, nobody wants it" was what the guy said), think iīm going to get it in case i canīt in the future. also iīm looking for a backup steel frame. my new steel frame costs around 154$

markw

Look at Soma and Surly. https://www.somafab.com and https://www.surlybikes.com . Both offer MTB frames and forks with the right brazeons.

blacktom

My local bike shop has 20 or 30 used steel forks that they obtained when they replaced solid forks with suspension types. I suspect most one man band shops would have a supply, cheap.

Brian.

Erick L

I use Old Man Mountain AC lowriders with U bolts. No problem. You can get clamps from Tubus to mount Tara lowriders on forks without eyelets.

Becca

Mebbe start at https://www.surlybikes.com/forks.html ? Or Kona forks at https://www.konaworld.com/2k2_tech_forks.cfm

jeff williams

[QUOTE=ushuaia]

I've been some time looking for a MTB with chro-mo frame for touring purposes. In these
aluminium days it's hard enough to find any new MTB with steel frame (besides Marin, who even
makes them?), and if you, as I do, want it with rigid front fork too it's a mission impossible."

Perhaps you should check the grandfather of offroad biking. He has never stopped making chromoly frames. He does not make\ market suspension forks.

https://www.ritcheylogic.com/ >I did not see chromoly mtb forks though on the site. My older R fork has one set eyelets back. somebody mentioned Rivendale was to start making an older style Chromoly frame I guess in the MB1 style ( horizontal toptubes? ).

There are many chromoly mtb frames still made, few are the 'traditional' geometry and are designed as bikes to run suspension and downhill. ( inclined toptube. slack headtube ) and It seems to me that you'ld be looking for the frame more dirivitive of a road geometry.

My bike was one of the earlier frames to have inclined tope tube ('90's racer) I think the idea wasn't put into production bikes untill '92+. Almost all frames earlier are horizontal toptube.

New Chromoly frames though, are quite expensive. But an older Chromo mtb frame can be found for cheap!

https://www.firstflightbikes.com/atb.htm >Old Toms work (Toms designs were brought to the east, he instructed the welders, and RockyMountain and some other MONSTER bike company were able to produce a bike that fit better in the wallet.)
https://www.oldmountainbikes.com/ >I enjoy this site, dozens of bikes I'd love to get.

Swap out the fork for one with eyelets? Probably under $100. ( I was once told by a LBS employee that the RitcheyLogic forks were available and said worth $150.) I foolishly was going to remove and replace with suspension..The fellow said "Why?" didn't even bother to try to sell me.

Hmmm, I doubt this contains much real info for you..just felt like typing.

Good luck with your touring bike build.

Edit: Sorry, I don't think Ritchey puts eyelets on his new frames. my old one has though.

drcrash

What's wrong with clamps?

ushuaia

Thank you all for your tips!

Yeah, what's wrong with the clamps, I don't know.. But I would like to know if they are
really durable holding the rack with panniers before heading to some long desert/mountain
track so, any experiences of broken clamps?

I have to check the availability of all that stuff here in the northern corner of Europe.
Ordering things from the states gets a bit too expensive with shipping fees and tolls..
I think I'll buy this bike and try to get either one of those Old Man Mountain racks
or change the fork.. building the entire bike from separate parts it's out of my budget,
if I had the money I wouldn't be asking these questions here

MichaelW

You can have rack braze-ons added to a steel fork. There is some debate as to the wisdom of drilling vs a braze-on at the front or rear surface. Both seem to work OK.
My LBS added read rack mounts to my road frame for less than the price of a tyre.

Schumius

if you want to use suspension fork with lowrider then you can take a look at https://www.faiv.de/ guess probably that would be cheaper for you to get one them from the states.
steel forks/frames are ok with modification, drill a hole or two doesnīt make them subject to failure. i donīt trust clamps too much either, but my front derailer uses clamp because the seat tube is just too thin.
my kona project 2 fork costs me only a few dollars while on the intenet itīs around 60$, so itīs good to look around some independent bike shops, maybe youīll dig up some treasure for a relatively small price. i just ordered tubus cargo and tara, but my bike has no brazeons so some work is necessary, you can usually have it done by some mechanics.
building a new bike is not necessarily more expensive, actually i got mine cheaper. but i didnīt put it together myself, i specified what components i want, what was my main usage of the bike, durability or performance and just let them do the rest. this way i can get the service from them without extra charge.

jeff williams

Don't drill holes in your forks. look @ your bottle cage-- brazed holes not a simple drill hole. Want to see a piece of metal sheer?
I do have a Trek upsidedown in my bedroom 10 feet away --with mid fork mounting points. THEY ARE BRAZED! A seperate piece of cast, hardened, threaded metal attached to the tube by brazing.
A fork is sujected to stupid stress compared to the frame.. A fork failure is a face mashed into the road.

Crap..you guys better be working with cromoly...
Don't play 'welder' unless you know penetration etc about beads...BUT those eyelets, right man, yes, they can be just 'added'...on steel.

I'm mad about something else.....work, life, sorry..but

....but the 'do with whatever' attitude can get you killed or waste metal.

Use a clamp? ---Drill speed holes yes..>But don't tap threads into them and subject them to weight of panniers..that's stupid.

Istanbul_Tea

Just buy a good, sturdy Cro-Mo fork and send it off to someplace like either of these...

https://www.assenmachers.com/paint.htm (scroll down for the service & price)

or-

https://www.bobbrowncycles.com/services.htm

and you can have exactly what you desire, not a lot of money spent, done by masters of torch & flame and you'll know its been done right.

I think all too often folks forget to not only support the Artisian but that he can give you exactly what YOU want versus having to settle for things... and at least in the case of braze-on's is a genuine bargain price wise. Don't cycle unless you re-cycle! Plus, you'll have a fork that will be worthy of many conversations (especially if it's a well known fork that doesn't have eyelets for racks but yours has them!) and you can say that some small piece of your cycle is 100% Custom!

**Note** Just reread your post and see that you're in Europe.

Contact Bob Jackson

https://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/repairs_pl.php

or-

Mercian

https://www.merciancycles.co.uk/renovation.htm

they will both do it too.

jeff williams

Sorry I thought Schumius was into 'making' holes to mount weight on forks.

Schumius

no, i donīt do it, i leave it to the mechanics in the shop because i donīt have the skill nor tool needed for that. itīs up to them to decide which is the best way to go.

bsyptak

For $40, you can get a brand new fork, threaded or threadless, with rack braze-ons:

https://aebike.com/site/page.cfm?PageID=30&Category=512

I really like aebike. It appears that this parts section is the entire QBP catalog of parts. QBP is THE bike shop parts catalog. Even Performance uses the catalog, as I learned a few weeks ago! So, you can go to your LBS with armed with this knowledge and price, and see what they can do.