I know this because I am a perfect example of this situation. One day my baffle vibrated off. I couldn't find it so instead of buying another exhaust and all, I just rode without it. I was riding quite a long time actually without the baffle. I had the motor for 5 months. I rode it for like 3 months with the baffle and then 2 without. Then one day the whole motor just stopped and I almost ate the ****. What happened is the link bearings broke and one even worked its way up to the piston and scratched the circular wall and made the whole thing come to a halt. Sounds like a factory problem to me, but just to let you know I rode it for a long time without the baffle and really no problem. But like I said, it will cool down much quicker without it which can harm the engine. So once in a while is ok, but not always. At least I wouldn't...