Dual Headlights From A Speed Triple
By: Brennan Zwak

I thought there might be some interest out there to see a naked SV with a Speed Triple dual headlight setup.  I had little luck finding pictures of dual headlights and less luck how to do it when I was looking at this as an option.  This little conversion cost me $310.00 when it was all said and done.  There are cheaper ways to get dual headlights on your bike, although I would say they are less exotic.  I have always loved Triumph and in particular the Speed Triple, this was my way of getting a bit of both worlds.

First, a warning, to do your lights this way, you don't need to be a mechanic, but you do need the ability to perform basic maintenance on a bike, and some wiring knowledge.  Also, I recommend a service manual, torque wrench, and front end stand.  This is how things broke down.  Once you have all the parts you need, this will most likely take you a full day to complete.

First I removed all old parts involved with the headlight, including the brackets that mount to the forks.  I found the best way to get the brackets off is to put the bike on a front stand, which takes the tire off the ground.  Loosen the triple clamps and slide the forks down.  You may also need to compress the fork a bit then slide the stock bracket up and off.  Make sure you re-torque the bolts correctly when putting the forks back in place.

The headlight and blinker mounts are one in the same, so you will have to be creative with the blinkers.  I took 1/8”x3/4” steel and formed two brackets that did a little “S” curve off the bottom bolt of the radiator.  There were plenty of other options for the blinkers, and one is sure to fit your liking.  If you decide to place them on or near the radiator or other hot components, be sure to wrap the wires with heat resistant tape.

Since the original headlight housing had been removed, and the new lights will have no room for excess wires, they all need to be repositioned inside the frame.  I didn't have much trouble repositioning the wires just inside the frame between the top tube and air box.  Before you clean everything up in there and tuck it away, pull out your three headlight wires and the wires for each blinker.  Also, any wires not already wrapped in some sort of heat shield, wrap them up with heat resistant tape.

The headlight bracket and everything involved with holding the lights are genuine Triumph parts.  This runs up the tab, but good luck finding this bracket anywhere else.  The original Triumph headlight and housing would cost over $100 for each light, so I went with the Biker's Choice headlight, model 41-0312, $43 a piece.  They are sold as a bottom mount light.  This is a problem because you have to rotate them 90 degrees in order to mount them on the triumph bracket.  This will cause your headlight beam pattern to be thrown off.  You can fix this by opening the housing, and rotating the mounting ring 90 degrees.  This will put the lines of the headlight lens back to their original horizontal position.

The headlights were spaced out a bit much at first, so what I did was trim the headlight housing mounting brackets back towards the housing.  Then I drilled new holes in the mounting bracket, allowing the two headlights to be mounted closer together.  Be sure to put a coat of clear coat over the chrome that you cut otherwise you will never keep up with the corrosion on the unprotected chrome.

The headlight bracket, you need to use the '01 bracket because starting in '02, the Triple uses their headlight bracket to also mount their instruments, so it has been modified and has an extra arm on it for instruments.  The '01 triumph bracket itself will not mount directly to your frame because the mounts are spaced differently.  Fortunately, the '02 Triple has the same spacing as my '02 SV (99-02 SV).  What Triumph did was manufacture adaptor plates, which allowed them to use the old bracket.  So, order both the adapter plates and the headlight bracket and you are in business, and it will look clean. 

When you go to put the plates and bracket on, you will need to put silicone spacers (Home Depot) on either side of your frame mounts to widen the plates to the appropriate width.  You could use the Triumph bolts used on the Speed Triple, or you could get some from a local hardware store and save a couple dollars.  Once the bolts are through the frame mounts and into the plate, but before they are tightened, there will be up and down, forward and back play because the bolts do not fill the holes on the frame mounts. This is good because you need to tighten the bolts when they are resting on the bottom most part of the hole.  This will allow the headlight bracket to be mounted and give just enough clearance for the ignition to move over the bracket.  Once the bolts are tightened the plates won't move, so everything works out nicely.

Once the Speed Triple bracket is in place, you won't have full motion of the handlebars/forks because of the stock front brake lines and the crossover.  The crossover component that connects both front brakes to the line for the master cylinder must be moved down and to the bike's right side.  This can be done with a couple bolts that match stock threading and size, only longer.  A metal spacer (approx. ½” to ¾” long) and a sturdy metal strip of some sort approx. 2” long.  Put holes in the metal strip at both ends and use these things to reposition the crossover down and to the bike's right.  I know this works because I had to do it for a couple weeks before my stainless steel brake lines showed up.  The stainless lines eliminate the crossover and make things look much more professional than the makeshift reposition job with the stock brakes.  Not to mention the performance of the stainless lines.

That should cover everything involved with putting Triumph Speed Triple headlights on a naked SV.  If you have any questions, e-mail me at brennanzwak@hotmail.com.