The bearings should tap out with a long punch grabbing the edge of the bearing. A long small-ended punch or a thicker one that has a slight angle ground on the bottom should catch the edge. Tap with the usual even spacings so it moves without cocking.
There is no pressing need for tape rollers. I like taper rollers, but I switched to them when I made my own steering head. I broke several stock bearings while racing. I don't think this happens that often, but sometimes there seems to be enough wear in the pockets that you cannot get rid of the play and the bearing ultimately will crack. This happened with David Tompkins also. I would stay stock until a problem crops up.
If I were spending money, I would spend it on a new steering stem assembly rather than the bearings.
There is a bearing that is very close to the original 1.987" (50.4698 mm) stock diameter of the bearing pocket. The cup of the taper roller bearing measures 50.292 mm. This is close, and it may be the bearing cup that Bill is using with a 0.200" shim. David Tompkins used this bearing when he made his own steering head and used my steering stem. The key is using a new FF2 (the stem itself) that is metric, which means it is easily available.
This bearing set is known as a "Timken Set 14" which is an L44643/L44610 cup and cone set:
I had chosen to use 25mm as the stem (FF2) diameter because it opened up the bearing selection. The stock FF2 diameter is 1.125."
I choose the 32005 taper roller for my steering stem. I felt that the original steering head, made of cast steel, was not strong enough to bore, and if the steering head were copied in high-strength aluminum, I would want the wall thickness to be much greater. The 32005 seemed to fit the bill and was used by Ducati as a steering head bearing.
This bearing can be used in a stock steering head by using two rings as shims. David Tompkins used this system for a year in his stock steering head prior to making a new steering head.
David