Modern Vespa

Those rare earth magnets.

I have several riding-related items that rely on them.

My SX scooter saddlebags are one. They have magnets sewn into the lining to hold the bags to the cowls. The tank bag on my motorcycle has magnets sewn into flaps that hold it onto the gas tank.

I've had the saddlebags for years. I wouldn't put anything electronic, jump drives, MP3 player, etc. in them for fear problems resulting from the magnets.

When I recently purchased the tank bag, it had access ports for earphones that implied that it was OK for these devices to be carried.

A little (and I mean very little) bit of research led me to believe that there is no danger from these magnets and they won't erase jump drives or other media. Indeed, I've since carried my digital camera, Android, GPS and MP3 player with no ill effect. I haven't risked my jump drives yet, even though I know they are practically identical to my MP3 player.

But still, all the info I found was anecdotal.

Can anyone provide a last word on this?

Magnets won't affect any solid state media - flash drives, MP3 players, etc. They MAY affect rotating media (like hard disks) IF they field is strong enough - in other words, large, high powered neo magnets very close to (or on top of) the disk drive. Static fields aren't nearly as much of an issue as the AC field of a typical bulk magnetic eraser...

Biggest problem I have encountered with these is not electronics related. Any grit that is on the bike or bag will get ground in to the paint work when the magnetic item is placed on bike or removed, ending up in a patch of scratches. I have had this issue with my magnetic toll tag pouch which I used to place on the front leg shield. Now place it on the windscreen stem.

They're completely safe around electronics. The whole keep-away-from-magnets thing is hugely overblown, even for magnetic media. Floppy disks are sensitive to magnets, but magnetic hard drives are fairly well shielded, and you'd have to have a pretty strong magnet to affect one. Yes, you can erase hard drives with magnetic waves. Generally, it takes a massive electromagnetic generator to do any damage.

Garden variety electronics (i.e. not containing magnetic media) are completely fine to use around magnets. Hell, I couldn't even get the compass of my iPhone to screw up with a neodymium magnet near it.