Listen, I understand everyone's opinions and concerns... I am probably the most open-minded person you will ever meet. In my 40K+ miles of experience over the past 3 years of riding street I have learned alot. In my 30 years of living, I've experienced alot of haters, growing up skateboarding in the late 80s, labeled as a punk skater with baggy clothes and "airwalks?!?", thru the mid 90s when I became a hero for being a skateboarder..."where'd you get your shoes!" I was ridiculed by alot of riders when I started riding, cause I was on a GS500Fk5. All the asshat/squid comments mean nothing to me... everyone always thinks they are better that everyone, and their shit doesn't stink. I've read and seen it all on car forums when I used to autoX. Sorry about your buddy, I had a friend get killed the same way. I get pulled out in front of on a daily basis, no lie. Every fuckin' day! Everybody is going to do what they do how they do it... if it's on 2 or 4 wheels... watch out. I wasn't in the video with the lane splitting, but I will admit I've done it. I've had way more near misses riding with the flow of traffic, than filtering it. Either way, you're still invisible to cagers. Ride that way... invisible, cause nothing you do will change that, not even a kawi green bike will save you. Hell, I see alot of people break their necks checkin out my bike than I could have ever imagined, on my all black bike with all black gear. Just remember, commit, 100%.