My ongoing Nova 4/X saga...

[shoppa_classiccmp at trailing-edge.com]

> The black vacuum switches are made by FAIRCHILD and are a terrible
> design; two membranes, on each side of the vacuum chamber! These
> are latex; it had practically dissolved and adhered to the copper

Especially in high-temp high-ozone environments, rubbers and foams
deteriorate very rapidly.  At least you didn't also have sunlight
in the mix.

When I lived in So Cal and kept my bike outside in the sunshine, the
rubber tires would rot away roughly every year.  And these were not
cheap tires, these were really good quality rubber.

Tim.