There's no way that taping it would provide enough rigidity ... but I had a piece of leftover rebar that was the perfect diameter to just barely fit inside the tubing. I cut it to length so it just barely fit between the blue attachment halfway down (that has a bolt going through) and the curved end. I was worried that the "cross-bar" controls (to allow it to run and engage the wheel drive) would not "seat" well ... but they did!
Good thing since drilling the rebar would have been a PIA. So after "hammering" (literally) the handlebar together as tight as possible, I taped the leftover rebar on the outside to prevent it from opening back up when I pulled on the handlebar. Everything seemed to work great in my testing ... and per the video below, it did a fine job mowing the front lawn a few days ago.
So I consider this fix a success ... and I didn't even have to channel my inner-Fred Sanford to cannibalize from my lawn mower junkyard! ;-)
The only other significant repair is the plastic wheels crack ... so there have been three replacements (re-used from junkers) in 13 years. But otherwise it still works great and starts (easily) on the first pull ... can it last another 13 years?!?
