Thank you all for the help and feedback so far, and for bearing with my...erm...inexperienced use...of brake terminology.

As for threaded/less debate, I've been given a lot more to think about. I originally thought a threadless fork would just be a big upgrade along a lot of different aspects of the bike (handling, feel, handlebar adjustments, etc.), but given what's going on here I will reconsider it.

Anyway, good to know that if done correctly, different brakes won't necessarily send me into a tree; that impact will be my fault alone.