101 uses for old bikes

Yet another use for unused bikes was added to the books yesterday. This time it wasn't a Bianchi though. All the necessary parts had already been removed from that bike.

Monday night our kitchen sink pipe became clogged. So I gave Andy a call, remembering that he once owned a flexible auger. I wasn't able to get a hold of Andy in a timely fashion, and I didn't want to pay a plumber. So I decided to build my own auger. When Heather's friend left for Chi-town she gave us her old Schwinn in exchange for one that is in better working order. So I took the brake cable and housing off her bike and fashioned it into an auger. Fortunately our drain pipe was short enough that the 3 foot cable could reach the clog.

So if you ever need to build a flexible auger, here is how it works:
(Note: if you have a longer pipe try a brake cable for a tandem bicycle)

Grease up the cable and slide it into the housing (make sure you have an inch or two of cable on each end of the housing). An inch or two from the leaded cable end, grab the cable tightly with a pliers. Then grab the leaded end piece of cable with another pliers and twist so that the cable unravels between the two pairs of pliers. Keep twisting until the memory of the cable is gone, and the cable stays in a frayed state. Then take the other end of the cable (the pointy side, sticking out of the other end of the cable housing) and secure it into a drill where the drill bit usually goes. And there you go, instant flexible auger.

Lastly, here is a bit of advice from and experienced user of this device: try to keep the cable housing as close to the drill as possible when the drill is turning. This will prevent the cable from becoming frayed on the drill side of the auger.