Adam,
CF pulls the blades out. Even with no hinge stop they would not go straight up. If you consider lift and CF as roughly perpendicular, the coning angle will be defined by adding the CF and lift vectors together. At flat pitch there is no coning angle, at high power there is significant coning angle. CF is much bigger than lift so the angle never gets crazy, i.e. straight up.
Juan de la Cierva's contribution to the helicopter was the flapping hinge. On the advancing side in forward flight, there is greater airspeed which would result in greater lift, and on the retreating side the opposite is true. As the advancing blade flaps up, the relative wind changes such that there is less AOA on the blade, and less lift. On the retreating side the blade is flapping down, which due to the change in relative wind produces more AOA and more lift. This tends to equalize the dis-symmetry of lift. However, as the blades flap up and down, they are trying to conserve their rotational momentum. Spin yourself in your office chair, pull you legs & arms in, you speed up. The lead/lag hinges allow the blade to accelerate and decelerate without causing huge bending moments at the root.
-- IFMU