I don't get why 1 1/8" standard decided to go with 26 tpi rather than the 24 tpi used for 1" and french. Are you going to have a 1 1/8 steerer brazed on and deal with the limited headset/stem options or go with a 1" steerer and use headtube shims to get a wider variety of headset/stem options?

I agree that the new steerer seems to be the way to go. Even with powdercoating the fork, it would probably come out cheaper.