Only the first page is interesting
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 2:39 pm
Only the first page is interesting, the second and third page are totally confusing. 
I asked Vech about the dampeners when I was considering purchase of a first year production R69s. He told me not to worry about the "lack" of a dampener on the early bikes - and offered that the dampener was merely an "add on" - the bikes weren't designed with the dampeners. He did not seem them as any more problematic than the later, dampener equippped engines.
Others have researched the issue more fully, and as I recall, unless you are consistently riding at 80+ MPH, you are not in the RPM range where the dampener adds any real effect.
The crank failure mentioned in the article could have also been due to other issues.