Cone shock mods gone wrong / right

[mizunole]

Yet another cone shock mod thread, but I thought I would take it at a different angle and let you know some background while I am at it.

I bought a used 856 with a leaky NR1 with cone.  I unwittingly bought a NOS ODS off ebay without cone.  The seller was kind enough to send me a cone shaped collet, but without the coin to brace the spring on, this was worthless.  

I unscrewed the cone adapter off the NR1 (it is threaded) reamed the threads out of it so the shaft of the ODS would fit nicely, bought a longer bolt and made a cone monster that made my strut assembly too long for the biggest cage front derailleur.

Finally said screw it, and bought a Risse.

I have had the collet, NR1 leaky dampener, and a reamed out cone adapter laying around the garage for a couple of months, and I decided to give Noleen a call to see if just by chance they sell the cone shaped adapter to fit the NR1.  They said no, but they do sell the one to fit the NR2 for $20 and it would function the same.  Bought it yesterday.

This got me thinking though, if I can find a dampener shaft that is a bit larger in diameter and over all longer than the Noleen, why can I not just buy the Noleen cone adapter (with bolt through strut, and dampener threads into the other side) and then cut and thread many other dampening units on the market.  The spring size of my NR1 was interchangable with My Rock Shox coupe deluxe, but I am unsure of the over all stroke of the shaft.

Can anyone give me the eye to strut measurement of an NR1?

[kiwi]

210mm eye to cone end...same for all the different strut shocks ie friction damped ie 855,756,ods-856,and nr1,2,4

[mizunole]

Got the cone end from Noleen today.  Threaded on like a charm!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11178241@N02/1413546255/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11178241@N02/1413545687/in/photostream/

Which brings me to the question, why is there so much trial and error in modifying the strut, and not the shock when we have readily available cones?  (other than the air spring stock answer.)

[orange]

not all of us can ream out the cone adapter... :-(

but I must admit it wasn't an option I had considered - I didn't know Noleen sold them for a start. I have one or two lying around on old NR-1's and NR-2's but they are screwed on so tight I can't get them off!!

[TheRo0sTer]

I did a cone mod... I manfactured a new adjuster nut and spring retainer. All was going good till the adjuster stuck to the ODS. I pulled some of the material off the lower portion of the shock. Repaired/cleaned it up enough for it to hold the seal retainer. Cut a little more off the adjuster and bam I'm back on the road. Now I need a NR2 for my NR4.