Kickstand this one

But you adult riders of two-wheeled, pedal-powered conveyances might want to be careful.

State Rep. Wayne Krieger, a Republican from Gold Beach, is sponsoring a bill that would require Oregonians 18 and older to register their bicycles.

Oh, and pay a $54 fee every two years.

That’s for each bike, too, in case you were plotting to, say, slice your registration sticker in half and put one side on your road bike and the other on your mountain bike.

House Bill 3008 has not gained much momentum.

Even Krieger admitted that the bill has little chance of passing.

But although we count ourselves among the pundits who think Krieger’s legislation is ludicrous, we think its overriding silliness might contain a grain of wisdom.

It’s just that Krieger, as lawmakers are apt to do, has gone too far.

Bicycle registration fees can make sense for cities, but not for an entire state.

We’d wager that many cyclists in Baker City wouldn’t object to paying a nominal fee — say $10 a year — if their money paid for bike lanes, trails or other improvements around town.

(Baker City does require licenses for bicycles, but as in many cities there is no fee.)

But we’re skeptical that the proceeds from a statewide bike tax, once processed through the state bureaucracy, would be distributed in a fashion that benefits cyclists in Baker City as much as their counterparts in Portland.

Krieger likens the proposed bike tax to registration fees that car and motorcycle owners pay. But that seems to us a shaky comparison.

No doubt drivers in Eastern Oregon dislike the idea that some of their fees pay for streets in Salem. But the vast majority of Eastern Oregonians who visit the capital get around the city by car, so they too benefit from the street work their fees paid for.

Bicycling, by contrast, is much more a local matter. If Baker City cyclists must pay a fee, then the money ought to be spent smoothing the streets and roads where they put on most of their miles.

Then there is the issue of cost. Krieger’s bill sets the bike fee equal to the car fee: $54 every two years. Surely the lawmaker doesn’t expect us to believe that a 30-pound bike pounds the pavement with the same force as a 5,000-pound pickup truck?