When installing our slip ons we took off the heat shields an noticed the head pipes were very blue to almost black iscthis normal for a yr old bike

 

Welcome. Depends on mileage.

 

Not at all unusual in my experience. Metric bikes use double wall headers to help prevent bluing. H-D uses heat shields. All single wall pipes will blue with time. The rate depending on state of tune of the motor, mileage, how sharp the bends in the pipe are, thickness of the steel, quality of chrome and other factors. Back when bikes had carburetors, overuse of the choke could also cause excessive bluing.

Look at the bike in my avatar. Even the muffler has discolored from heat. This is common on 2 into 1 systems, given enough time and miles. those pipes are 18 years old.