I rode through your fine town on Saturday...... I would use a 5W, and Bel-Ray is likely available most places.
Stadium Yamaha still shows $425 for an OEM '13-14 shock. But, we're less than a couple hundred where you can score a quality aftermarket emulsion (rebuildable) shock...your choice of brand!
I use 10 wt and set the suspension a little softer than Fred likes to. IMHO there's no settings that will please everyone, you've got to pick a starting point and adjust for you from there. I've found that a lot of it is the conditions of the roads you ride, plus I am not a canyon carver requiring the optimum race track-like suspension performance. I don't mind dragging a peg once in a while but it is certainly not my predominant riding style. Down my way the roads are better than average so I tend to set for a plusher ride. But I've been up your way- the roads are crap and stiffer settings are a must. Fred's settings may be the ticket for frost heave but here it's way too harsh, also IMO hence the " drink-the-kool-aid, absolutely-necessary-to-upgrade" thinking.
You should use the same viscosity oil that the designer used....and Yamaha 01 is about a 4wt oil (in spite of Yamaha calling it a 10wt oil in some of the service manuals). Unfortunately not all 5wt oils are the same, some are actually closer to 7wt but suspension fluids have consistent viscosity and the numbers you want are 85/150.
Red in color? All the of the Honda SS-7 I have is clear in the color, the Honda SS-8 (10 wt) is a purple/red color....its been a while since I bought any, maybe Honda changed the colors.
Sounds like you're at that place in life where pretty much anything else you do with your money will garner you a better return on your investment. If you're not experiencing any dissatisfaction with the ride quality on your bike don't worry too much about something you've read on the internet, not everyone rides the same ride.
