You can run premium oil 2-3 times as long so it doesn't cost anymore.If you are cheap.

Glad there's another oil war, I was getting bored from all this college studying crap...

 
Stock air filter is restrictive and robs hp, but it does a good job of catching everything but the very finest kind of dust.   This passes through and makes it into your oil, but is not stopped by your oil filter (way way smaller than 10 microns which is all the oil filter says it will always stop)

Now these stock air filters do get plugged up and require a reverse blow out with an air gun every 6 months.  Eventually they get plugged up and then they cost you like $39.00 dollars to replace now-a-days.

K&N makes a 1/4" thick thin oiled cotton mesh trapped inside screening sort of folded filter that fits in the same space for $49.00 that requires cleaning and re-oiling every six months or so.   Oiled filters work better, but a 1/4" filter has very little carrying capacity so they get dry and start to pass all sorts of stuff, being only 1/4" thick and really really dependent on that oil to work correctly.

Oiled media filters have a better chance of catching really fine dust than any other sort of filter media, so I made myself up one with a 2" thick compressed poly-fiber mesh which is coated in thick oil which can run for like 2 years before requiring attention and even then it only gets dirty less than half way through the thickness.

This gives me improved air filtration and is still low air resistance compared to a stock filter.   Here is the tech tread.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?board=tech;action=display;num=1183640744

Improved oil filtration requires you to remove sub micron sized ferrous wear particles to keep them from recirculating in the oil.   Oil filters that can do this fine sub-micron job are expensive and they plug up fairly quickly.  So I went a different way to achieve the same goal.   Here is that tech thread.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1197231468



===============


Based on these improvements in very fine dust air filtration and super fine oil ferrous particle trapping I have no issues with running T-6 from one year to the next on my bike.    

I still can't stomach going any longer than a calender year, I jest can't bring myself to do it.   I know I can, I just really don't want to.

 
So far the Recommended list stands at:

                      (pricing comes from Walmart)


Dino        -- Rotella T Triple Protection 15W40                $12.99 a gallon  
                                                                                        ($3.25 a quart)

Synthetic -- Rotella T-6 5W40                              $21.99 a gallon
                                                                           ($5.50 a quart)


Mobil 1 reformulated itself, the new oil has yet to be VOA tested
Synthetic -- Mobil 1 Motorcycle Racing 4T 10W-40            $ 9.97 a quart
Synthetic -- Mobil 1 Motorcycle V-Twin 20W-50                   $ 9.97 a quart

Back in 1987, Suzuki didn't say anything at all about synthetic oils because other than the very early Mobil 1 PAO formulations the synthetics weren't broadly available yet.

5w40 Rotella T-6 is well known here on the list, most of your Mod staff use it and quite a few of your regular posters.   It is a JASO MA oil.

If you are afraid of the synthetic weight's first number (which simply says it flows better than dino can when it is very cold outside) then by all means use the dino Rotella T.

 
That's nice, mine was printed in '02 and they still say the same thing they did in '87 -- recommend a API SF oil, etc.    Same oil grade chart is in all of them that shows 10w40 being recommended for all seasons with the 20w50 weight catching some low temperature ranges where you shouldn't use it.

http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/motorcycle/how_to/mc_oil.html#Oil1101



This set of pages is a very good overview of what is happening to motorcycle oils and it seems to be both current and well maintained.

Go up to the top and start at BASIC and read through INTEMEDIATE then you will have the basis to understand ADVANCED.



This is a cut from ADVANCED


BRANDS CHANGING OIL SPECS UNNOTICED
  Several of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers sell their own "house" brand of oil through their dealer networks. In some cases, these house brands have recently been reformulated to API SJ and/or API SL, which may not be compatible with your motorcycle (specifically, if your motorcycle engine calls for API SH or earlier, such as an API SF/SG rating). Suzuki brand motor oil is a perfect example; their standard 10w40 formulation recently changed from being API SF/SG to being an API SL-rated oil, which is thus unsuitable for most older bikes, and even some of Suzuki's newest models (such those which are air-cooled and/or air-oil cooled - such as '00 - '05 Bandit 600, and '98 - '05 Katana 600 & 750 engines).

OF, I was neither knocking nor praising the Accel oil. I was simply pointing out its existence. It is the first oil I have seen with a self-proclaimed "SF" rating, and as such I thought it might be of interest.