How long do you keep your bike mag(s) for?

[sportbikecalgary]

So I was doing a little housecleaning and found a couple of bike mags from the early 90's on a shelf in the basement. I was going to toss them out, but instead stashed them into the large box of bike mags beside it on the shelf. Beside that box were 2 more boxes FILLED with motocycle mags. We're talking 20 kilos or 40-50 lbs of mags in each box. This got the wheels spinning in that I wondered if this hording of old bike mags was something others do or whether I am a bike mag packrat and should just toss them out. For the record... over the last decade I have gone back in a used them for reseach a couple times. Do you think that's enough to warrant the shelf space?

[Kootenanny]

I have a hoarding habit, but (with help from my wife) I'm undergoing a 2-step program. Step one: recognize the problem. Step 2: throw junk out!

I took several pounds of paper, in the form of motorcycle mags of all descriptions dating back to Y2K, to the recycling bins recently. Couldn't toss 'em all, though...I dunno why, but I kept the few Brit mags I have (they were expensive!) and all the CCs...

[Ancient Priest]

is where to find a new owner for it. A classy mag like that shouldn't go straight to the dump.

And I have worked out a solution. The kid who is junior Teller at the bank (I tell him that he is their token male - just in the job to try to prove that a male can do the job almost as good as a female) wants his first bike really, really, really badly...

His mother, who is the bank's Head of Security, has other ideas and she is a Heavy. So young Mohan gets my read-once-only mags with the mailing labels stripped off, and he can leave them kicking around their living room, and he can take on his mother. I did the same when I was his age.

Two kickers are in place: if ever he has a substantial win on a lottery, I get a new bike out of it; and, if I ever decide to do a bank heist, Mohan is my inside man.

[Malks]

From the number of votes cast it looks like I am not alone in hoarding old magazines. I have boxes filled with Cycle Canada and Ski Canada mags going back years. This is not easy task around here as my wife will toss out anything that sits around for more than a few days. We are considering a move to a condo in the future, so I suppose I will need to consider thinning my collection.

[Mel]

At my worst I had somewhere between 8-10 big boxes of old mags, mostly from the late '80s and '90s. I've culled quite a bit since then, keeping only those of particular importance to me (and, of course, I've still got every issue of Cycle Canada I ever bought or received by subscription).

I keep any magazine with an article about the Isle of Man TT in a separate stash, and in fact I still have one of the first ones I ever bought, acquired during a trip to Ireland as a kid in '79. It had an extensive review of that year's TT.

I also keep all the Westwood racing club's programs from the track's final years at the track ('88 - '90). These will never see the inside of a dumpster.

[TroyBe]

I too am guilty of the "never throw a Bike rag out" mentality, having several boxes full of seasoned CC mags. Come to think of it, I have never knowingly thrown one out, and even still have most of the old newspaper issues from the (early 80's??). I have given a few away to friends who have a bike from a particular issue, but that only accounts for 2 or 3 in total.

My friends have moved me a few times in the past 10 years, and the common theme on moving day is always "what the hell are in these heavy $%^&*# boxes (even though clearly labelled). As they can't believe I keep carting them from house to house, year after year. I just can't bring myself to rid myself of the glossy pages of yesteryear, and plan to spend my Golden years poring over the pages of bikes, rides, and riders of the past.

Luckily I have large storage facilities (read that as a large basement), so my wife doesn't really care one way or the other.

Peter's point to handing down recent issues, to a newbie ring true, and I would certainly entertain doing so if it were to enlighten or introduce a new rider to our ranks.

I should also point out that it is not only CC mags that are part of my addiction, although it is the only mag I currently suscribe to, I have a wide variety of other mags in my underground bunker, including sled, car, 4x4, and even an entire colection of Heavy Metal, so it would seem I am an uncurable hoarder with respect to reading material.

[John]

I've got 'em from the mid-Eighties on. One of my earliest has the SRX-600 in it that I go read every year or so to bring back good (mostly) memories of the old thumper... The wife hates it BUT she just bought me some organisers for them all. She's a good woman.

John.

[TimP]

Hmm, I may be the odd man out, here.

I read magazines cover to cover, then toss 'em in the Blue Box. If there's someone nearby who might appreciate a read I'll give it to them. If there's an article that might serve as "reference material" (a bike I own / owned / may own, tech how-to or important source identified) I'll keep it on the shelf for a few years and then wonder why I did...

I've moved too many times to be a pack rat. I get rid of everything I can that's not immediately useful, and I find I think harder every day about what I really need to own before I purchase it. Another sign of age, I guess.

Besides, with that information superhighway at my fingertips I can read up on anything I want to know about anytime I want. I just Googled "SRX-600" and got 487,000 articles to choose from, along with 8,490 images. So that's what it looks like. Nice, but think of all the shelf space I just saved!

[RB1]

I hang on to them for ever.
Not only do I hoard the mags but I accept mags that others have hoarded. I gratefully accpeted Mike Dickinsons 3 boxes of old CC's last summer. Still have not gotten through them all, and still have not sent Mike a suitable thankyou gift. That is coming.
Some day I may have a grandson or granddaughter that will be as bike crazy as I used to be. It would be cool to pass them down a few at a time to him/her and then go through them with "them". Pointing out bikes I used to own, bikes that I've ridden and talk about what was cool way back then.

When I was about 12 years old I would ride my bicycle to the Sault Ste. Marie Honda dealer on some sunny spring Saturday to flip through all the brochures on the rack and stuff 'em in my green canvas packsack (nobody had back packs then). I'd read each one through before taking it. Didn't matter what bike style or model, I'd take them all.
I remember one time the manager came by to say that they had to pay about a nickel for each one of them that I was taking. This would be about 1973. I looked at him and asked if he wanted me to pay for them. While I was calculating that I did have enough money for the brochures, I was also thinking that I did not like this man very much. He was loud and I didn't like the way he talked to his staff. He always looked like he was mad about something, or he seemed to be bragging to somebody about something.
He sort of looked uncomfortable and then said "Forget about it." I left soon after and it was a long while before I went back. I'm glad he didn't make me pay. I would not have had enough money to buy a pop at the corner store on the way home.

Then it was home and pour over the brochures time and time again. Stare at the pictures and then read all over again.
There was no way I was cutting out pictures. I wanted those brochures to stay exactly as they were. They were the promise of.....freedom!

So.
Some day.
I'll have someone that feels like I used to feel.
They'll get the mags and they'll be freely given.
And, who knows? Maybe I'll even get to ride with this young person....maybe.

That's why I hang onto the old mags.

[Paddy]

I used to hang onto all of them. But now I just think of ingenious spots to leave them where they will be picked up and read by a total stranger. I often wonder how far some of them have travelled after leaving them at airports, on planes, subway, once my grannies' old folks home etc.
It's more fun this way.:cool:

[metalredneck]

I used to keep 'em all in chronological ordered boxes, but my G.A.F meter is pretty much pinned on the low side. It's a couple of months on the lower shelf of the coffee table, and off to the blue box.

[CDN-ZZR]

I keep issues for as long as I own a bike, owned a bike, or want to get a bike that is in the issue. Currently, I have a whole mess of Mags with Concours14 information, and Super Moto info.

You missed the part of read it and trade it with your buddy.