Sprint Sprint St Headlights

This week its been dark as I leave for work which has highlighted the fact that the headlights on my Sprint ST are, well, frankly as good as candles! So I got myself some Osram Nightbreakers and went to fit them. Now I can reach the bulbs without removing the fairing but I cannot seem to release the retaining wires as they are close to/foul on the housing. Has anyone got any ideas/tips on how to get them out? It seems a big design flaw to have to remove the nosecone and headlamp unit just to change the bulbs! I can't seem to find anything on this subject!

 

Gen 1. It seems daft to have to take the headlamp unit out as if you only had the factory standard one light then you would need a breakdown recovery if it failed after dark! The retaining wire may be bent I suppose.

 

Well I have just come back from a day ride, the last hour and a half in failing light and darkness. I found that if I was on a country road with no other vehicles behind then its dangerous as the light output is feeble despite upgraded bulbs! Quite how Triumph was allowed to sell bikes with such poor lighting is beyond me and I have both lamps working. My bike has covered 113k so I am thinking that my headlamp unit may be beyond its best as the light is quite yellow which may indicate the reflectors are also shot. I think I'll look to get another unit then maybe upgrade the bulbs again.

 

Well I did a bit of research today about improving the headlamps. It seems that it may be as simple as Triumph fitting small gauge cable which increases resistance and decreases voltage! So I am going to start with making sure connections are clean etc then maybe upgrade the supply cabling to a larger gauge as well as checking that the lights are aligned properly.

 

No definitely reflector lamps!

 

No they won't fit - mine's a 1999 Sprint and uses H4 bulbs.

 

Well I took the nose cone off to check the voltages and found that both headlamp relays were missing (see pics) and someone had bridged the supply wires with a small wire. I found an old relay plugged it in and I suddenly got 12 volts at the headlamp plugs! So off to get two relays!

 

Not quite the end yet! I plugged in both relays and...... only the right hand dipped/high beam worked. I know you can get both to work so must be some more wiring to be done I think. I'm sure google will come up trumps!

 

Oldyam its definitely a 99 as it was registered in April 1999 so was probably built the back end of 98. I think its going to be a cable break but finding it is going to be a pig. I did check the fuses and one of them for the dipped beam had obviously been a bit warm as it had melted the plastic a bit. Probably because of the bodge I found. No power to left headlamp but power from the relay (both).