Um... yeah, shifting without using the clutch on a bike with an already notorious transmission isn't a good idea. especially from neutral into first :yikes: you can adjust the play in your clutch lever yourself in about 30 seconds:bigthumbsup:
Any bike on the road can be shifted without the clutch...doesn't make it a good idea, but it's possible. ... I wouldn't make a habit of it, but you should be able to do it, in case it's necessary in a pinch.
I'm a play devil's advocate here... 99.9% of bikes on the road are constant mesh transmissions... meaning - Shift all you want w/o the clutch. (the other 0.1% are those weird-o automatics... lol)
I'd contend that you're MORE LIKELY TO damage the transmission
using the clutch than not using it. If for no other reason, because you're more likely to fully get the bike into gear when you shift without the clutch. We all know that the 109 needs to be "shifted like you mean it". That's true for clutched or clutchless shifting.
When you clutchless shift, the bike's not going to let you "soft"shift it. Because of that, I just about guarantee that if you clutchless shift, you'll NEVER hit a false neutral. Try to say that about shifting with the clutch...
Obviously, you need the clutch to go from neutral to 1st, but beyond that... relax that left hand boys and girls

Did it on my 109 all the time, up and down shifting, and do it on the B-King pretty regularly, especially in higher gears. Neither bike seemed/seems to care. (For the record, the 109 really seemed to "prefer" clutchless shifting... The B-King's pretty happy either way)
Alls you gotta do is preload the shifter and ease off the throttle momentarily. As soon as there's a little slack in the drive train - best way I can describe it is "between" the point of putting power to the back wheel, and engine braking, it'll up or down shift easy as pie. (BTW, If you think about it... when you pull the clutch, you're in essence "creating" that slack point in the engine and the rear wheel... :bigthumbsup: ).
Give it a try, and some practice. It'll give you the herky-jerk a few times until you get the hang of it, but once you get the throttle control down, you'll be able to shift as smooth as you can with the clutch - only without.
And, better yet, once you get better at it, you'll even be able to drop from 2nd to neutral. :nojoke: methinks you should practice in case that clutch cable goes... just a thought.
Ride safe e'rybody.