Can I Cut The Mufflers Off My Honda Shadow?

Can I cut the mufflers of my Honda Shadow? 

Sure! You can also drop your bike out of a plane from 30k feet and set your house on fire!... But that doesn't mean its good for your bike! Most of the Honda Shadow exhaust has two differently-designed header pipes for the forward and rear cylinders. The forward pipe, being made of a double-wall construction, is only properly supported when the muffler is attached. If you cut off the muffler, you end up with a problem on your hands. The inner pipe will end up tearing itself off of the boss all the way up at the exhaust manifold due to vibration and heat and the tubing's thin wall. Then you have an exhaust flow issue and this can negatively affect engine performance, leading to exhaust leaks, lean conditions and all sorts of fun stuff, including mystery sounds that only happen at certain RPMs!!!
You can't just pull it out of the outer pipe either, because the inner pipe has 2 compound bends. You have to cut off the entire pipe. Most people end up hearing a weird metallic whining, vibrating sound at certain rpms, but can rarely find it (I know this because I had it happen to my bike years ago when I didn't know jack squat. I have encountered it on other riders bikes who had the exact same issue many many times!). It then ends up wearing a hole in the outer pipe, causing more exhaust issues, and leaks... It's all bad news. The rear pipe doesn't even have a complete outer wall; it merely has a heat shield covering the first 18" or so of exhaust tubing which is barely bigger than an inch. If you cut off the muffler for the rear pipe you are left with a heat shield shaped like a "U" with a tiny tube in the center that looks fugly as hell.  The same vibration, thin-walled-tubing issue can happen here as well. In all honesty, the best option for running open exhaust is to get a well-made set.  It doesn't have to be from me either (sure I make some bitchin' exhaust), but getting a complete set that has a manufacturer's warranty behind it is a much better investment! 

One of the more popular mild modifications you can do to your exhaust is the 1-3/4" holesaw mod. Just get a 1-3/4" holesaw and drill out the rear baffle on your stock exhaust, it does remove some of the restriction from your exhaust and, in my opinion, sounds much better without stepping up to an increase in volume. Just  remember any time you change your intake or exhaust setup, you should properly tune to accommodate the new flow changes. We offer tuning kits for both dual and single carb bikes that work with our intake and exhaust!