interesting discussion indeed... kevin cameron, who's been tech inspector in AMA and peeked into plenty of works motors wrote once that he saw everything, from full blended, through 3or 5 angle to even "single angle" (just a 45 cut) seats on the podium at the end of races....
Johno, I like your approach. dont know if this story is true, but some say that john britten developed his ports simply building them up from the valve seat with plasticine while running them constantly on the flow bench and going with the path of least restriction.
If i had the time, i'd build a mock head out of silicone and check any porting changes there before doing anything on the real one. toyed with the idea of building a flow bench once, but realized i better build running bikes i can race rather than fine flowing heads that sit on a bench with the time i have!
BTW, this is the only way to really know how your ports look IMHO.... your finger is NOT a 3D scanner
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=82510.msg928138#msg928138