Originally Posted by
elgalad
I would go with an exact replacement of the original fork.
Your guy at the LBS is wrong about the effect of the different fork. Because it has more "rake" (ie. it curves forward more) it could quite significantly alter the handling of the bike. As a general rule, the further forward the fork curves, the more stable the bike will be in a straight line, but it will also be more difficult to corner at speed, as the steering will feel slower and less responsive.
Reverse that. I know it's counter-intuitive, but the more forward rake (mm's of offset) the quicker it will steer as you've reduced the trail. Several searches, and many lessons thrown my way have taught me this.