Those of us who live in cold climes where houses have basements and furnaces/boilers should be aware of this. The problem as I remember it was ozone. The sparking of electric motors gives off ozone which can degrade rubber i.e. tires, brake hoods etc. I remember being warned to never age tubulars in a basement for that reason.
On a related note, basements tend to be damp so they may not be kind to steel frames.
Norm Lafleur
Ashfield, Ma.
USA
furnace?
> Ken Freeman wrote that he keeps his bikes in the basement. Years ago I
> bought 80# of new in the box Campagnolo parts from a gent and took them to
> Greg Parker to sell them. Greg is about as canny as anyone about such
> things and he looked the stuff over and said he was surprised that it had
> all been kept in a basement these many years, because there was no
> evidence
> of damage from the furnace. He said they must have been in the other end
> of
> the basement. He went on to say that a furnace gives off something like
> Ultra violet (no that doesn't sound right , does it? I must have it a bit
> mixed up) that deteriorates tires, brake hoods, cables, washers, etc. I
> cannot for the life of me recall whether it was Ultra Violet, electro
> magnetic or what it was that was damaging. Might anyone recall hearing
> something like this?
>
> Tom Sanders
>
> Lansing, MI USA