Someone hates cyclists

Heard about this today:

http://bikeportland.org/2009/03/06/mandatory-bike-registration-bill-introduced-in-salem/

Oregon House bill 3008 would require that bikes in Oregon be registered with the state, and pay a registration fee: $54 every two years. This is the same cost as registering a car for two years. The registration money would go toward bike projects.

Since bikes have become part of the transportation strategy in Portland, I think it makes sense to start looking at them as similar to cars. I don't have a problem with registering a bike, or paying for it. But $54 every two years? I bought my bike for $300 brand new, so registration would have amounted to 1/6 of the cost of the bike right away. If I bought an $8000 new car, which is as cheap as new cars come, that would be like paying $1300 to register it every two years. Outragous!

If registration for my cheap bike was proportional to registration for that cheap car, it would cost 300*54/8000 = $2. That is how out-of-proportion the registration cost is.

Furthermore, now if a parent wants to buy a bike for their kid they're automatically looking at a $54 mark-up, plus more fees as the years go on. I'm not sure if the fees also apply to tricycles.

The article I linked to implied that one of the bill's sponsors doesn't like cyclists. Fine, then tax spandex and Nalgene bottles. But don't make me and my family pay car registration for the bikes we ride for leasure.