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I was wondering whether part of the solution to this would be to sleeve the entire headtube with a very thin bushing of low-friction material and then polish the steerer or coat it with something similarly low-friction but, TBH, at that point you may as well just get someone to custom manufacture you the fork you want with a 1" steerer.
ffm
Depends on the application. If the shaft and bore are both accurately cylindrical, 50μm radial clearance is about right for this size if you want to treat it as a plain bearing with either hydrostatic or hydrodynamic lubrication.
Of course, a 1⅛" steerer, especially carbon fibre, is unlikely to be any of circular, straight or nominal size even without load, and it can get a long way from straight under load in comparison with a clearance that small.