Here's one for you.

I checked my oil level after about 1 hour of riding-->did some errands, came home, took a nap THEN checked the oil after the engine was off for 1 hour.

The engine was still very warm when I checked the oil and the reading showed 1 "diamond" below full.

After checking the battery, I cranked the engine and ran it for a couple of minutes. I had first gear engaged and was checking the chain.

I shut the bike down, waited about 3 minutes and re-checked the oil.
NOW it showed 2 diamonds from the BOTTOM??

"Hey Scotty, where did you beam all of my oil"

I rechecked after another 5 minutes and saw the same oil level.

For all of this the bike was on the centerstand on a level surface.

Any ideas?

centerstand

Well the manual says to check it while balancing it off of the side stand
ie one hand on the handle bars holding her/him upright and other one burning yourself on the dip stick......hmmm  I wonder where they came up with that name?

Yeah, I don't check the oil excatly how the book indicates, but I check it the same way consistenly. Also, after reading some posts here, it seems like the oil level difference b/t the two methods is negligable.

Besides, I don't have three legs and three arms so my method is easier.

What is the reading now that the bike's been sitting for a while again?

I'll bet the oil that got pumped into the engine didn't have enough time to drain back down to the oil pan when you checked it the second time.

No, I checked the oil level after another 10 minutes an came up with the same reading.

I'm going to take the bike for a spin tomorrow morning and recheck the oil level using my "typical" method.  That is, I check the oil level after having ridden the bike for several miles and let it cool down for at least 30 minutes.

The bike's performance has been fine and the oil pressure light goes off immediately once the bike is started so I just don't see how the second reading can be accurate. It just bothers me that the readings are different and I don't understand the reason why. The oil has no where to go except to leak out (no leaks) or back in the pan.

The oil gets pumped to the cylinderhead when you start the engine.  When you shut it off, the oil comes down again slowly. If you wait for half an hour, the oil level will have returned to normal.

That must be what happened.

I knew the oil needed time to get back to the pan, but I didn't realize how slow that could take.

It seems like the difference b/t the high oil mark and the low mark is relatively small. I haven't measured it, but it seems much less than a quart. Every time I have to add oil, it only takes a small amount to get it to the full mark again.

When I checked the oil after yesterday's ride, everything looked good!

Thanks for the help!