Motorcycle Repair: Seized Honda Rebel Engine, rebel, siezed

Question
Well, my wife went out riding today on her 2004 Honda Rebel 250 and she caled me about half an hour after riding and said her bike stalled out on her. I found her in the local shopping mall parking lot and tried to fire it up. Nothing just clicking. So I start to check the bike out. I get to the oil and NOTHING! There was some oil on the stick from being splased around but nothing measured on the gauge part of the stick after bein cleaned off. At that point, I jumped on my bike and went to get my truck. After I got it home I dumped fresh oil in it, but it still won't start, I just get a clicking noise. How bad is it and what steps can I try to fix it?

Answer
The first thing to do is determine if the engine is actually seized or if the starter system decided to stop working at the same time. Put it in the highest gear and try to roll it forward (don't pull the clutch in). It should move with a fair bit of resistance and you should feel the engine turning. If it absolutely refuses to move the engine is probably siezed.

If you can feel the engine turning when you push it you need to check the starting system.

If it is seized you will, at best, need to rebuild the engine. If the bike was 15 or 20 years old I would say you should start looking for a good used engine, but it might be worth rebuilding a 4 year old engine.

If you are going to take on the project yourself, you will need to get a shop manual and prepare a clean work place to disassemble the engine. Expect it to be apart for a while because you won't know what parts need replacement or repair until you have it apart.

I also recommend joining an online usergroup for bikes of this type. A google search for - Honda Rebel forum - turned up several.