He speaks the truth! Having cut one open and looked at the construction method, I would never skimp on the oil filter. You can get a chrome Wix (NAPA) Filter that is well constructed, I personally use K&N, very highly rated, uses a consistant bypass spring. If I can locate the article/test on different motorcycle filters, I'll post it.....
He may speak the truth with regard to the construction method, but he speaketh with forked tongue when it comes to his recommendations. After talking about the importance of actual performance data and ASTM testing standards, he pronounces
ALL Fram filters, including those made for other companies and those made with different internal processes, unnacceptable, without one piece of performance data supporting his opinion. And make no mistake, it's just an opinion, based on ignorance of actual industry construction methods and processes. "Oh golly gosh, I don't want no cardboard in my engine". Well, in about 25 years of using Fram filters (air and oil) in my four wheeled vehicles and personally changing the oil, I've never encountered bits of cardboard in my oil, and I've never experienced oil related failures or unusual wear of any kind. And I'm betting I'm only one of many tens of millions out there in the real world with that same experience. BTW, if you don't want any paper or cardboard in your engine, I suggest you get rid of that paper air filter Harley uses, and you may want to take a close look at some of the gaskets as well, and oh yeah, that treated
paper in all those various brands of oil filters.
Folks need to use just a little not-so-common sense and realize that products that use only the highest cost materials and processes in their manufacture aren't going to be cost competitive. It is the job of engineers these days to achieve a stated performance level AND do so without breaking the bank. If a sealed piece of heavy cardboard works to support the filter media in the cannister and separate the inner and outer surfaces of the filter media (keep the dirty oil on the dirty side), and testing confirms the results, then the fact that some non-wrench, non-automotive engineer saw a picture on some forum showing a cardboard endcap versus a metal endcap and decided cardboard is no good doesn't mean diddly squat. (He claims to be an electrical engineer, wonder what he thinks about that cheap paper inside a capacitor?)
I love how some folks will take what one person claims on a web forum or blog and treat it as gospel, without even thinking about what ulterior motives that person might have for his "expert" opinion. Any time someone praises one product unconditionally and dumps all over another, and doesn't supply proven facts and performance data to support his opinions, I tend to be a little suspicious. Kind of like when the bike mags do an article on the latest whiz bang magical performance upgrade and fall all over themselves praising it, but only after the manufacturer buys at least one full page ad in the magazine, preferably two or more.
If you want to obsess over something that's a little more likely to affect the long term durability of your engine, try obsessing over the bypass settings. Having the oil completely bypass the filter media on a regular basis, like with the earlier 10 micron Harley filters, is much more common than a one in ten million piece of cardboard floating around.
Jerry