K&N Recharge Intervals

[s445203]

On my first trip I made some of the newbie errors and bought a K&N filter for my Strom. It turns out this was not so wise, as explained here http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ir-filter-5552

but hey, if we knew everything it would all be boring.

Anyhow, I am now 6,500 miles into the K&N filter and in Santiago, which I imagine is the only place for 1000s of miles where I can buy a recharge kit.

My manual says the filter should be replaced every 7,500 miles, but this applies to the OEM filter, which the K&N is clearly not.

I have two choices:
(a) buy a very bulky recharge kit for basically the price of an OEM filter (another reason K&N was not so wise) and clean the filter at 7,500 miles when I'll need to do the spark plugs anyhow.

(b) push the filter to about 11,000 miles when I will be done with the trip.

And of course this question falls into the "how long is a piece of string" category, but basically I've been riding in pretty clean road conditions in Chile and Argentina, with a bit of dusty gravel road (300-400 miles). Is the air filter replacement interval something you adhere to come hell or high water (like oil changes) or is it something bendy, and if so is it bendy to the 20-30k range or more like 10k miles range?

And I'm really hoping to avoid opening it up and having a look - on a V Strom for a newbie like me it's a 2 hour job to take all the plastic off and get to the engine, or at least it was last time).

Thanks in advance!