I bought a used XJ900 back in the 80's. The prior owner had done just that, and it worked just fine (non-scientific observation). The cap eventually rusted out and it became very noisy! As it happened on a road trip, I finished the rest of the trip by putting in small tree branches held in place with some wire I had handy. It gave me a wonderful wood burning scent all the way home - but I had to stop every few hundred miles to replace the wood. You do whatever you have to do.

Once I got home I installed an OEM two-exhaust system which I preferred.

 

I gotta respectfully disagree with mortenk. A lot of R&D goes into exhaust scavenging, flow, volume, etc. I would think eliminating 50% of your exhaust flow would create much more back pressure than desired. This is just my non-scientific belief. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in soon.

 

There will definitely be a performance hit - all I am saying is that you may not notice much under "normal" conditions. I assume you will add a muffler than can handle the full flow of course (i.e. an exhaust built as a single). If you simply run with a single OEM you may see a significant performance hit I would assume - as Whooshka also points out.

 

I'm with Wooshka here. I think you'd be messing up the balance of back pressure and all that by removing 50% of the pathway for the exhaust to flow. That said: how expensive would it be for you to simply give it a shot? Said "cap" would need to be secured with a hose clamp or something, and be pretty heat-resistant. Seems like that'd be about 10 minutes of work and you could see how it handles/runs.

It feels like a bad idea to me, but it also doesn't sound dangerous/risky!

 

Thanks. I kind of thought the same thing but wanted to see if it was an absolute no no before I tried.

 

Speaking of balance - if looks are a thing will you be running mostly without the side bags? Otherwise if you'll be leaving them on then having a can under each bag would look more balanced IMO.

 

I don’t run with bags. I run without.

 

Not a ton of info, but there's a Muzzy 4-2-1.
Or, head to your favorite muffler shop. They can make a 2-1 and you can add the can you choose, and choose your exit side.

 

Cannot find that muzzy anywhere. I actually just pulled it off to see if I could put sonething over it to try. Decided to run it without a cap for kicks and open on left side. Sounded really good. Not loud but at all but a little more aggressive. Just feel jenky if I left like that. Lol. We will see. Maybe leave left side open and route underneath or just leave alone. Who knows.

 

........ Decided to run it without a cap for kicks and open on left side. Sounded really good. ........

Seriously?

 

Not loud? My dual muzzy system is crazy loud. Can't imagine what open pipe at your boot would sound like.

 

It was not bad at all. I was pleasantly surprised. One muffler on one side and open on the other. Just a deep solid tone and was quieter than any sport bike out there.

 

Lol, my fjr is louder than both of the 2 sport bikes I own and I am running 2 mufflers. Good luck with your experiment, don't melt your boot.

 

You literally can barely hear mine at all. Very quiet.