General exhaust question

[Farwynde]

  Hi, I am an ignorant Noob to Motorcycles.  I inherited an 06 Thunder mountain Harley with an Evo engine. She has exhaust tape and heat shields on her pipes. I was told that she should have one ot the other but not both. Is this true? She is all that remains of my brother and Is very important to me so any help is appreciated.

[Ohio HD]

While in realty you don't "need" both, it also doesn't hurt anything to have both. One negative to pipe wrap is they hold heat against the pipes, and when they cycle hot and cool down later, they tend to add rust to the pipe underneath.
 

[misfitJason]

And lead to metal fatigue causing the pipe to crack

[Farwynde]

Would this be an issue in hot, dry, central California?

[Ohio HD]

yes, when heated metal cools, especially covered metal, it creates moisture then corrasion.