Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Curved fork or straight fork?

I've been riding fixed for about a year. I bought a cheap fixie from a local bike shop for cheap and am starting to realize why it was cheap. Now that I'm used to riding fixed and freaking love it, I'm starting to look into upgrading. I'm considering a Bianchi Pista Concept frame and building the rest myself, mostly because there are specific parts I want. One of the more important parts I'm not sure about is the fork. The Bianchi fork doesn't have a place to mount brakes and I need a front brake. I need to ride down an enormous hill to get to work so no breaks isn't an option for me currently (as well as insurance issues if I get in an accident). So should I get a curved or straight fork? My current bike (Uno Cayne) has a straight fork. What's the difference between the two? What about carbon forks, are they just lighter or are they also stiffer?

Curved versus straight is pretty much a debate thats been going on for a while without too much of a clear consensus. A framebuilder friend of mine claims that a curved fork helps dissipate vibrations from the road a little better. In the opposite camp, Colnago (amongst others) claims that the straight blades are stiffer so will corner better.

I personally think with modern materials, its more to do aesthetics rather than anything else, as long as the fork matches your needs (in terms of geometry, rake etc).

You'll need to know what frame you're getting before looking at fork options really. Depending on the frame you may have a hard time finding a straight fork that matches.

That's probably why I can't find any solid information about it. One dealer around me gives a deal on a Torelli Aspect fork for $150 with the Pista Concept frame. The Torelli is a curved fork. I'll probably end up going with it just for the good deal. Thanks for your help.

Did some say curved fork?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/tech/features/antipasto/Pin07_DogmaFPX2.jpg

Picture above is a the Onda fork from Pinarello. It is supposed to reduce vibration transfer to the rider with the swoopy design.

Depending on the geometry of your frame a curved or straight fork could either not work or look like crap.
Case in point, my frame has really tight geometry and has a curved fork. If i put a straight fork, my tire would be against my downtube and it would be unrideable.
Be aware of that when you buy.

Straight forks have the rake built into them.
It's not like straight forks run straight down from the steerer tube, which would cause the problem you describe above...

case in point:
http://www.performancebike.com/product_images/250/50-2103-NCL-SIDE.jpg

True but there isnt some standard rake that ALL forks have is there?

True but there isnt some standard rake that ALL forks have is there?

Loose standards:

28mm to 30mm rake for TRACK
43 to 45mm rake for ROAD
45+mm rake for TOUR

Did some say curved fork?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2006/tech/features/antipasto/Pin07_DogmaFPX2.jpg

Picture above is a the Onda fork from Pinarello. It is supposed to reduce vibration transfer to the rider with the swoopy design.

Not to mention it looks bad ass!!

I don't think I'll have problem with a straight fork being too close, the Pista Concept comes stock with a straight fork, it's just not drilled for a front brake so it's no good to me. I need to replace it with something and I'm trying to decide straight or curved (and now wavy!)