First three are over-engineering. Last one is simplest.
Thank you Karl... It took me three long hours to extract the race and another 20 minutes, to even out any ramps in the steering tube caused by the screwdriver digging in. If I would have had a welder and I would have known, what on earth I'm doing, I most definitely would have tried that method first. Also if one welds properly, the bead holds on, and indeed that gives you a shoulder to hammer away on
Anyway, the most important thing is, that the bike handles just so nicely, even sometimes too nicely, as it "falls" into corners (I guess not overly so, as the fork is not moving sideways, when the front wheel is test-held, does not judder at any speed and the 'hit the end of the bar with palm' method does not produce any unwanted vibrations either).
The only issue remaining in the front section is a clunk, when I hit bumps, I hoped, the steering bearing replacement will get rid of that, well, it did not do that completely. What I mean it is like heaving little suspension travel, and I hear-feel the road surface issues just a tad too much. At some point I will try to replace the fork fluids, but I'll leave the front be for now. BTW, does anybody know the correct amount of the fluid? I do not have a fork seal leak, but if the clunk is caused by little oil (suspension looks very soft to me, but mind you, I had an 80s touring-sports Honda before, which had stiff springs and large wheels), I might not get to far with measuring, how much oil comes out of there.
Thank you!