The idea of a baffle is to even out the pulses - which will reduce noise by smoothing out the pressure pulses.  Ideally you want to have a resonance chamber where the sound can bounce around and leave the tailpipe in even flow....instead of pressure waves.  This is not completely possible on a big single - but the more restrictive the baffle and the larger the resonance area....the more effective it will be.

I am currently of the opinion that a muffler with a baffle reduces noise in the lower frequencies more effectively than the higher ones, and a baffled muffler makes a higher pitched exhaust note.....while mufflers that have a perforated core and sound batting make a lower exhaust note as the packing absorbs the higher pitched sounds more effectively.

So......I believe the baffle should be about in the middle - with room to resonate on both sides of the baffle.  The Harley Dyna muffler has a center pipe with a holes on both sides of plug. The exhaust comes down the small center pipe and then goes through holes into the large outer shell where the pulses can even out.....then it goes through holes back into the center pipe and out the rear.  Installing a baffle without a chamber for the exhaust to resonate will not be nearly as effective.  

You really need to make some preliminary decisions about what you want the system to do. Is it supposed to be quiet (or loud), is it supposed to enhance performance, or look good, or some combination of the three? If it is to enhance performance, you need to decide where in the RPM range that is to happen, because that affects the placement of the baffle as well as the location of the expansion volume where the header enlarges into the muffler(reflected pulses). If it is to be quiet, larger volumes are more effective than smaller. Appearance is in the eye of the beholder, of course. Naturally, all this has to be done within the rather limited space available on a motorcycle.

Thanks everyone. JOG, I am well past the Dyna. Not nearly loud enough. I am running a Screamin' Eagle that is just a little to "lawnmower-ish" sounding and just a hair loud. That is the one the baffle was rusted in. I did get it out to the end but still can't finish removing it. Anyway, I want it almost as loud as the Screamin Eagle. I don't want high pitch sound. I don't expect a deep sound from a single, but don't want something that makes my ears bleed. I still want to do an upswept fishtail. I can get the extension fairly cheap but it has no baffle. I can't install it at the outlet due to the fishtail. So, from what I am reading here, if I install it towards the inlet end and wrap it in glass/steel, it should tame the high pitch and be as low sounding as possible. I am not figuring on any performance gain. That is not my goal. Looks and sound, which are both subjective, are my goals.

Have you went and listened to the "Sounds" page yet?

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1151331237

I'd give these a listen and maybe that will help you make a decision.

Cavi Mike wrote on 10/08/12 at 17:12:15:

What are your thoughts on the placement of the baffle, inlet or outlet?