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I have Shimano M324 pedals on my bike, and I decided to buy the optional reflectors (Shimano Y41B98010). They arrived with no fitting instructions. There are 4 reflectors, each with 2 threaded "prongs" to engage the pedals, along with 8 nuts, 8 split washers and 8 flat washers. How am I supposed to fit everything? What order do the washers go, and on which side of the pedal? Am I supposed to use all washers? It all looks very fiddly. Including a few photos for a little clarification.

Shimano Y41B98010 Reflector Set

Shimano reflectors attached to pedals

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  • My first inclination would be to insert the reflector, without washers, then install first a flat washer, then a lock washer, then the nut. But if the pedal hole appears apt to cut into the reflector plastic, then I'd put the flat washer on first.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 0:39

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The "normal" stacking order for those would be

Reflector       Pedal body        Flat washer      Spring washer      Nut

The flat washer spreads the load, and the spring washer is supposed to bite into the nut and the flat washer to prevent the nut from turning under vibration.

Your other option is to do away with both washers, put a dab of threadlocker on the thread that will be under the nut, and then tighten the nut down firmly. Once the threadlocker has cured/set use a dremel or small hacksaw to cut off the extra thread for weight-weenying :)

You can also use a dab of superglue to stop the yellow plastic from sliding out of the holder over time.

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Danger danger!

I have used those reflectors and they are a piece of crap. The failure mode is the plastic breaking. Your shoes will damage them in no time. I'd expect 2000 km use out of them. Then you'll see the plastic holder is damaged and the plastic reflectors have been shattered and lost. The only things in these that don't fail are the metal parts.

If you use PD-M324 pedals, instead purchase orange ECE-R104 reflective tape. It is readily available in long lengths because in some jurisdictions trucks have to use it to mark the perimeter of the vehicle. 5 meters long x 5 cm wide costs less than 10 dollars/euros/whatever-similar-currency-you-use. You can use one roll to reflectorise 50 pairs of pedals once, or one pedal pair 50 times. Thus, one pedal pair costs 0.2 currency units to do.

The reflective tape lasts longer than the plastic reflectors, is probably about as good in reflective power, and it's much cheaper to install.

My current solutions is using PD-T8000 pedals that have the plastic reflectors factory-installed and mounted in a durable metal enclosure. They last a long time too. Besides, the benefit of PD-T8000 is that they have a "heavy side" and a "light side" so every time you stop they are in a well-determined position, so you can time your feet in such a manner that you can repeatedly hit the platform side or the cleat side. Also PD-T8000 are much lighter weight than PD-M324.

But if you want to use PD-M324 despite their shortcomings and don't wish to upgrade to PD-T8000, do use the orange ECE-R104 reflective tape.

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  • I’ve also put reflective tape on my cycling shoes. I think “real” hard reflectors reflect better though.
    – Michael
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 16:45
  • @Michael I've done what juhist suggests, but with M424s (the plastic version) using 3M orange reflective tape (more expensive but you don't need much). It's very good, though I've lost a couple of bits after a couple of years. I'd recommend yellow rather than orange tape if doing it again, for a little brighter and less red-looking.
    – Chris H
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 17:02
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    In Germany, pedal reflectors are mandatory, and like all bike lighting/reflector parts, they need to be certified with a "K number". Reflective tape on the bike is no substitute and even illegal. Reflectors on clothing are allowed, but no substitute either. However, the probability of getting caught and prosecuted is small. Therefore, the PD-T8000 are probably the better option.
    – Erlkoenig
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 17:57
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    Yes, I am in the UK, and the law/guidance is that "pedal reflectors and rear reflector must conform to BS 61022".
    – osullic
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 23:55
  • Reflective tape (sometimes called DOT Tape) is a fantastic auxilliary. Even if its not sufficient to legally be a reflector in your area, a few lengths of this tape can do wonders for your night-time visibility. You can get it in Red for rear, White for front-facing, and Yellow for side-facing. And it's waterproof, needs no batteries, and is reasonably aero.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 0:24
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Those spring washers are normally used under the tighening nut. They are used to keep the nut in place.

The normal washer would go on the other side but I would consider them optional.

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  • At least one of the nuts looks like a stop-nut (the blue nylon inset), so I guess, the others are as well. The spring washers are like belt and suspenders at once and not strictly required. I'd put normal washers under each nut (and under the reflector, if I have more).
    – Carel
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 15:01
  • @Carel They are very rarely ever strictly required. They just help to keep i tightened. Even with the stop nut (which I did notice). I if one got the spring washers with the product, there is little sense having to look for normal ones instead.
    – Vladimir F Героям слава
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 15:11
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    I wouldn't use any washer between the reflector and the pedal (as you seem to imply by "on the other side". Better to keep them as close together as the hardware allows. You can use the spring washer under a normal washer if you really want
    – Chris H
    Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 17:04
  • @Carel I just googled "stop-nut". No, the nuts I got are not stop-nuts. I just took those photos quickly, and the lighting wasn't great. All nuts look the same from both sides, and there is no insert, blue or otherwise.
    – osullic
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 0:03
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    Nylock or nyloc or nylok are other names for those anti-vibration nuts. But OP suggests the blue in the photo is an artifact of reflection - photo 2 shows blue on the flats, so there's a blue wall/ceiling just out of shot.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Mar 14, 2021 at 0:33
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Today I happened to look up these PD-M324 pedals on the Shimano website, and there is a PDF there with service instructions. In my original question, I complained that the reflectors had come with no fitting instructions, but I realised today that the fitting instructions for the reflectors are actually in the service instructions leaflet of the pedals themselves.

So the correct answer – as posted by @Criggie – is shown in this schematic: schematic showing how to install reflectors on Shimano PD-M324 pedals

Edit to add: The reason I was checking the service instructions is because I want to adjust the spring tension of the bindings, and, slightly annoyingly, the adjustment screw is not accessible when the reflectors are fitted.

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