Nomad Mk3 26inch or 700c

[dsim]

Thanks all for your input.

I have decided to stick with the original Thorn fork and I just installed an Old Man Mountain Pizza rack which is attached to a special thru axle (lower mount isn't compatable with the M6 bolts that Thorn likes for rack mounts).

Since my tyre side wall broke in Bulgaria, I started carrying a spare tyre which is the exact model as the ones I use - Mondial Evo 26 x 50mm. I have some Almotion 26 x 2.1inch tyres that came with my bike which would be lighter, but then I'd be with a less suitable tyre if one did need replacing.

I'll have a longer think about whether I need to change from 32h to 36h on the rear.

[mickeg]

...
I have decided to stick with the original Thorn fork and I just installed an Old Man Mountain Pizza rack which is attached to a special thru axle (lower mount isn't compatable with the M6 bolts that Thorn likes for rack mounts).
...

I do not recall which rack it was, but one of my racks had bolt holes too small for M6 bolts.  Only took a few minutes to put a drill in a drill chuck and ream out the holes.

[UKTony]

...
I have decided to stick with the original Thorn fork and I just installed an Old Man Mountain Pizza rack which is attached to a special thru axle (lower mount isn't compatable with the M6 bolts that Thorn likes for rack mounts).
...

I do not recall which rack it was, but one of my racks had bolt holes too small for M6 bolts.  Only took a few minutes to put a drill in a drill chuck and ream out the holes.

I had the same problem with a Tubus Vega rack I fitted to my Mk 2 Nomad to replace the Thorn  Exp rack temporarily.  I found the diameter of the clearance hole needed for M6 on the web and luckily had the correct size drill in my toolkit.

[dsim]

I drilled my old Tubus rack slightly to fit M6, but the Old Man Mountain one is a bit different. Am M6 bolt fits through, but the lower mounting point uses an additional spacer that is designed to increase the strength of the connection. Drilling it out would leave the metal of the spacer too thin, and I can't use an M6 spacer with a wider outside diameter as it wouldn't fit into the recess on the rack.

Luckily the thru axle system is really good. The upper mounts accepted M6 with no drilling and the whole process was really easy - although they don't offer a nice diagram for the order of nut, spacer, split spacer, bolt line Tubus has for all of their racks