Thanks for the link Lothar.
I understand what they are doing, but still believe it won't give an accurate measurement of transmission loss. Although it might be useful to compare different final drive chains.
You mention your discussions with 3 different operators of Dynojet machines, which makes sense because Dynojet machines are inertial dynamometers. You can't do the kind of slow down measurement you refer to on a brake dyno.
An inertial dyno, as the name implies, uses the inertia of the dyno to measure HP. Basically, the dyno's computer measures the acceleration rate of the dyno roller, then works out the force imposed on the roller by the tyre to produce that acceleration. Knowing that force, it can calculate torque, and the rotational speed gives the HP. It also works the other way exactly as you say - deceleration rate will give a measure of the resistance the dyno is feeling from the tyre and transmission. But without also knowing the inertia of the bike's rotating components, neither the acceleration nor the deceleration measurements will be accurate. If the dyno roller is heavy enough, the bike's rotating masses could be treated as insignificant in comparison, but it would have to be a heavy roller indeed. I looked up the specs of a Dynojet motorcycle dyno, and it weighs just over a ton. Maybe a good proportion of that weight is the roller.
Inertial dynos have their limitations. For instance, an inertia dyno can't measure steady state HP. Meaning that you can't hold an engine at a fixed speed and measure the HP. If the drum isn't accelerating or decelerating, it doesn't see any power being transmitted.
Most other dynos are the brake type, which apply a resistance (or brake) to the roller and use a load cell to measure the torque. A brake dyno measures HP directly, and doesn't need to know anything about the bike's rotating machinery. But in the case of a chassis dyno (as opposed to an engine dyno) it can only measure RWHP.
It's not possible to do an inertial slow-down test with a brake dynamometer. That only works with the inertial type. That's why there's no clutch pulling in most dyno vids, such as the one Carlo posted. Presumably Carlo's bloke has a brake dynamometer.
An inertial dyno is very simple. It's just a big roller and a speed measuring device. The speed sensor is connected to a computer that works out everything from the rate of change in drum speed.
A brake dyno is more complex because it has to have some kind of braking system on the roller. The 'brake' is usually a hydraulic turbine or an electro-magnetic brake. It has a load sensor on the brake as well as a speed sensor on the roller. It also has a computer to translate the input from both sensors info into HP.
I'm showing an engineering bias here, but it's my opinion that a brake dynamometer is a real dyno which gives real HP readings, whereas an inertial dyno is a cheap way of making a crappy substitute.
You'll find a lot of negative opinions on the internet about Dynojet. People talk about 'Dynojet HP' as distinct from 'real HP'.