End of summer update on ye olde ForkenSwifte:
1) The brace shown in the above photo works GREAT. I'd advise any Suzukiclone owner to make/get one. (dcb told me this ages ago, and of course he was right.) Combined with a DIY front end alignment and no other rust repairs, the ForkenSwift feels dramatically more solid, especially over uneven pavement / bumps in the road.
2) Proving (like we needed proof!) that I am indeed a lazy procrastinator and so on: after installing the above-mentioned brace, I didn't do any more welding repair to the car this summer. TMP! Too many projects!
It's a foregone conclusion that the car will NOT be used this winter, or I might as well just book a space in the junkyard in advance for next spring (one more year of winter salt in its current condition will be the nail in its coffin).
3) Despite that, the car was used fairly regularly this summer, mostly as a utility vehicle - to move/tow stuff that's too big to do by bike.
(moving a disassembled pair of small metal sheds)
4) The neighbourhood knows the car. A mother and her maybe 5 year old son were walking by recently as I was getting in. She said, "my son just loves your electric car." And then, to him she asked, "want to hear him start it up?"
Him: "YEAH!"
And so they stood there on the sidewalk and listened/watched as I turned the key and drove away (I rang the bicycle bell for fun).