Any question answered...

What forks are these?

Relatedly, what easily available disc tapered carbon forks are there with mudguard mounts, that don't have massive clearance? Ideally 23c + guards so an a-c of about 370mm.

Bit bigger than you're after maybe, but I have this on my Condor Tempo
https://www.condorcycles.com/products/pioggia-disc-fork

Edit. ah hang on, that's straight. didn't notice you were after tapered.

In standard radial bearings, only 3 or 4 balls make contact during the load, at any given time. In Angular Contact bearings, ALL balls are engaged

Bullshit in the context of hubs and BBs where two radial bearings are preloaded against one another and act exactly like a pair of angular contact bearings. The only advantage of an ACB in that case is that you can stuff bigger bearings into the same hole, and BB30 bearings are already plenty big enough. If you want the biggest possible ACBs in your hubs, buy Shimano.

what easily available disc tapered carbon forks are there...

have a look at Kinesis forks - pretty sure you could find what you're after

For a BB86 in my case, a 24mm spindle.

So if I understand correctly, if bearing size is the same, I shouldn't bother, but if they use larger ball bearings for the ACB, then they are worth going for?

that's the thing. you'd think it exists but it seems really hard to find.

Kinesis do a Aithein fork but it doesn't have mudguard mounts, the cross fork has too much clearance, the axd fork is though axle, the rd1 weighs 700g (!).

Enve forks have no mudguard mounts, Columbus have gone all though axle. Cross forks all have massive clearance.

You'd think someone would make a road fork with normal clearance rather than for 48,000c 650b tubeless with 1200 eyelets.

48,000c 650b tubeless with 1200 eyelets.

#rep

You say that but there aren't that many people selling tapered forks with eyelets either! Because I wanted one for my 29er and struggled to find anything (although I was after a 15mm thru-axle as well which narrowed down the options).

Mudguard eyelets and tight clearance is a bit niche I think. Full-blown road bikes don't have mudguards and everything else (tourers, commuters, CX, gravel, etc.) benefits from good tyre clearance.

I appreciate it's a bit niche, but you'd think there'd be at least one. Hence asking what the Speedvagen Leave it on the Road fork is as it looks perfect

Edit: not tapered.

What about a reducer headset? Too ugly?

For a BB86 in my case

Not sure whether you deserve sympathy or mockery, I suppose it depends on whether you bought the bike or had it given to you. Notwithstanding that, radial bearing cartridges are not where the problem lies with BB86, so I wouldn't spend extra to get ACB.

Shame on me for thinking a top end bike (Canyon Aeroad 2016) would have a well thought out BB system. I'm going for a threaded together BB to hopefully make the most of a bad situation.

top end bike...Canyon

hmm...

Good enough for this guy.

Good enough

A HongFu is good enough

The bearings are easy to replace in those, just get standard ones and swap them out when needed.

Is it worth spending money on a stainless wippermann long life chain or are they a gimmick

I think the general consensus is just get cheap -well made chains from wippermann / kmc etc and replace them when needed.

Any reason why I have to remove the s from https on nearly 60% of sites I visit on my phone.
If I dont, I get the 'data connection' error, its totally sporadic too. Sheldonbrown just now, Daily Mail earlier, some random movie fanpage, LIDL . Its not really that much of a bother but I am intrigued.
tried a few browsers too, same thing.

Just saw some odd number plates on a right hand drive car. Front and rear were both white and the plate was "08-C-3735" what's going on there?

Irish plates?

ahhhh thanks didnt realise they hyphened their plates

hehe I'm Irish and that made me laugh a little. First number is the year registered. Middle letter(s) is the county it was registered in.

In fairness, it confused me because the plate didn't have the blue box on the left with IRL in like this:

or the black border or motto, It was plain white on a newish car. Almost looked like a classic plate

Ah right fair enough then, that'd be uncommon here. Don't know why you wouldn't have those parts, you wouldn't pass the NCT without them.