[Ducati] Oil level too high?

[Barry.Haggerty at dtz.com]

I would really appreciate your collective advice.

The bike is an 01 900 SS.  At the weekend I checked the oil level as I was
up for a hundred mile or so ride the next day and one of my previous rides
had been part of a 3500 bike procession through the heart of London to the
Houses of Parliament protesting about the dangers of diesel spillage on our
roads.  All first gear work.

So the bike was on the prop stand in the garage and kneeling next to it I
grabbed the frame and brought the machine to the vertical and held it until
the oil level settled at about the minimum mark.  I then stripped off the
fairing and topped it up to give a reading at the maximum mark on the basis
that the bike had not been run for ten days or so and all of the oil will
have drained into the sump.

When I checked it again last night to my surprise the level reached the top
of the sight glass.  When I lower the bike onto the prop stand there is
about 3-4mm showing at the bottom of the sight glass and when I let go
completely and let it settle on the suspension there is no oil showing at
all.

The bike ran OK at the weekend and it was ridden with some enthusiasm.
Therefore three questions for you.  Why the increase in level (I was
surprised at the quantity I needed to put in to raise the level
sufficiently) and should I decant some to reduce the level, if so can I
syphon it via the filler hole or do I have to drop the drain plug?

Thanks for any help.

Barry