I thought about trying this myself some while ago, but I could imagine so many things that could go wrong that I chickened out of it. I prefer to let these parts do their work in the dark, as long as it seems they're doing their job just fine :-)
Getting the bendix jammed against the driveface with running engine sounds like a nightmare indeed...
And so does "getting your fingers jammed in between the belt and the driveface", ouch.... Or having the clutch or driveface come loose at 8000rpm (drive side) or more than 15000rpm (driven side)...
There's a post on Youtube somewhere showing a cop getting fragments of clutch and cover in his leg while testing a scoot on a dyno, looks like there's a lot of kinetic energy involved in rotating parts with these rpm's and sizes...
BTW, never drive with the CVT cover off, the cover is part of the structure, driving without it could easily cause cracks in the crankcase that will eventually break your engine in half...