No, not true ! The bike will bump start fine - the damper is fitted to reduce pressure on the primary chain which runs the stator/alternator. The bike will sound like the battery is flat, when you use the starter because the damper plates are slipping - I have had to repair mine so know what the symptoms are.
Bump starting the bike doesn't use the starter.

 

Thanks for all the input but I believe I have isolated the problem. Bad Stator. When I rechecked the resistance across the 3 stator wires this weekend 2 pair showed open and 1 pair had the proper resistance. all 3 showed proper when I replaced the fried R/R but obviously there was an internal issue and now one of the staor coils has an open in it so I'm only running on 1 phase. A new stator is on the way. Thanks to Shadow for recommending MRcycles in a previous thread as they had the best price. Im fairly certian with a new stator and the ner R/R all the charging problems will be solved. Again thanks to everyone for their input.

 

Glad you found it !
Mine blew a stator, and because I had fitted a new reg/rec it took a while (and a couple of reg/recs) to find the problem. There are two coils in the stator and the centre one developed a short and reduced current flow. It's the least likely of the problems but at least you're on the way now !
The article on starter damper will probably come in handy some time It generally does for most of us.)