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I wouldn't do that.
I would be far too concerned that the replacement would have inadequate strength.
Even using the little brackets to which you refer (which were never designed to be load bearing anyway) the attachment points would be so close together that you would be creating a virtually unbraced cantilever ie there would be almost zero triangulation.
I know you say there is little chance of carrying a pillion but what about touring luggage and suchlike ?
And personally, I wouldn't trust glue and rivets on such a joint.
If I was going to mess with it at all I would be more inclined to go the whole hog and change the seating arrangement to solo only, thus eliminating the problem .. or else just do a standard short tailchop.
And in my opinion the grab handles (which are useless for pillions anyway cos they're in the wrong place) are nevertheless very handy indeed when wheeling the bike around. I value mine. They're also useful when strapping luggage on.
On a slightly different tack, I seem to remember Kato fitting an aluminium rear subframe from one of the superbikes .. but it was ages ago and my memory of it is sketchy.
And thinking laterally, if weight reduction is your obsession then why not consider the single can Termi exhaust system that Darren flagged up a couple of days ago ?
It has the bonus of adding simplicity too.
Unless of course you're one of those folk who need to see a visually "balanced" exhaust with a can on each side. And fair play if that's your thing but personally I like the lob-sided single can look.
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