Originally Posted by the warden

Heavy equipment, trucks, cars etc are "wet" sump, or in other words, all the oil is held in an oil pan beneath the engine. Your bike is a "dry" sump system, most of the oil is separate from the engine oil pan. The reason you need to check it hot has been made abundantly clear by several but I will reiterate. The oil in your bike is held separate from your engine sump. On some bikes, not all, engine oil leaks from the oil reservoir into the engine sump after it has sat for a period of time. If you check it then, when its cold, it will appear to be low on oil, when in fact there is sufficient oil in the system. The reason you check it hot is once the engine is run to operating temp the oil in the engine is sumped back into the holding tank allowing you to accurately determine how much oil is in your bike. My Ultra is one of those can can sit all winter and the oil level on the dipstick will remain the same. And it remains the same hot or cold because no oil is leaking into the sump when it sits. My Breakout on the other hand, empties all it oil into the pan after sitting for a week and nothing shows on the dipstick. The first time I saw this it was a little more than freaky, but even after idling for a few minutes it draws all the oil back into the tank.

Stop over thinking this, the only important reading is where is it on the dipstick when its hot. If it is anywhere between add and full you are good to go. Overfilled by half a qt is far worse than under filled by a half a qt.

Originally Posted by UltraClassicElectraGlide

That's not exactly what has happened and what my concern is, but there are other replies here that actually helped me out. That's what the bike SHOULD be showing, but my bike is not showing half when cold and then full when hot. Once topped off (up to the full mark after a 15 mile ride, when hot, as per the manual, it's pretty much staying at full, hot or cold. My concern is whether or not I have overfilled it, from the current 'hot' reading, then no, but from a 'cold' reading, yes. I'm looking to see if I should remove some oil. Since the reading is the same hot or cold, it's a little confusing, as both manuals don't show a 'cold' reading all the way to the full 'hot' mark.

I guess if you're already drinking today, have one for me, 'cause I don't drink.