Alright! I'm back in business.
Picked up the bike today from LA, and spent the next 4-5 hours taking her easy on the drive back to San Diego. I hopped on the I-5 for a little bit, but mostly stuck to the 101 (slow coastal highway with many traffic lights). I was pretty nervous about the ride, but my confidence slowly returned with each hour that passed.
New rear rim (thanks DefyIntertia), new rubber (Pilot Road 2), oil and filter, and chain adjustment... she's good as new! I put a little bit of fuel injector cleaner in the tank to compensate for the ~4 year old gasoline that was in there.... yikes! :thumbup:
The bike feels great! This is really a precision machine. The throttle and clutch are both pretty touchy - I'm looking forward to familiarizing myself with them. My shifting felt pretty "clunky" most of the time, but I realized that if you preload the shift lever a little bit before pulling in the clutch, it shifts up smooth as butter. Gotta have quick fingers, too. There's a lot of nuances to riding this bike well!
I love the way the bike feels, very comfortable. I noticed my right shoulder was getting pretty stiff from riding more than 30 minutes... Probably from my anxious deathgrip on the throttle. I'm trying to teach myself to relax.
Thanks a lot to everyone who replied. I'm learning from my mistakes and understanding the accident better the more I ride. I'm realizing that I came on the throttle too hard (which is still too easy to do, in my book!) when shifting into second on cold/dirty tires. The broken rim was more than likely from the impact with the curb.
Happy riding! I'll be out there first thing in the morning.