i know this is the simplest of questions but how hard, or better yet do i need to have my oil change done by a shop?
i can do car oil changes no prob, but i figured (have been taking it to the shop) i'd try it this time. its starting to get a little expensive plus i need to save for new fork seals
appreciate all the input in advance!

 

Easy as can be man. If anything, easier than a car by several orders of magnitude. The wrench is probably in the kit on the bike, oil isn't cheap, but it's cheaper than paying a shop to do 15 minutes of work. Don't worry about it. Buy the oil, drain the current oil, refill. Change out the filter as well. If you have the shop manual it should even be outlined step by step.

 

How many litres and what oil are people using?

 

It should say on the clutch cover by the filler neck how many liters it holds, but it's around 4 quarts.
Fill it with 3.5 and check it......then add as needed.
After you run it to fill the filter obviously.

As for the type of oil.......man this gets beat to death, I personally use Mobile 1 full synthetic 10W-30. Never had a problem of any sort with it. If you want more oil opinions, do a search and you'll see a 1000 answers.