Bicycles featuring advertisements that are locked to city bike racks around Honolulu have prompted about two dozen complaints to The Outdoor Circle.

"We think it's another end run around our billboard law," said Mary Steiner, chief executive officer of The Outdoor Circle.

Steiner said the organization started hearing from people last month shortly after the bikes started showing up on the street. She said she was shocked to see them chained to racks for days at a time.

"We have already received a couple dozen complaints from citizens who were offended by seeing them," she said.

Although the signs are relatively small, she said, people notice them because Hawai'i remains free of that kind of advertising.

Mark Bell of Hawai'i Kai, the 47-year-old entrepreneur behind the ad bikes, said he bought 30 of the bikes and posted them through Waikiki and urban Honolulu, including several along Kalakaua Avenue and Bishop Street.

Bell said his research turned up no law against using bikes to advertise. "There's no regulation about how long you can leave it there," he said.

Honolulu police Maj. Randy Macadangdang said there's no ordinance that limits the amount of time a licensed bicycle can be locked to a city bike rack. That's different from ordinances that ban cars and trucks from being parked on the street for more than 24 hours.

Steiner wondered why the new state law against mobile advertising wouldn't cover this as well.

David Tanoue, City Planning and Permitting deputy director, said an old city ordinance that regulated vehicle advertising was struck down as unconstitutional.

Tanoue said his department does administer Honolulu's Land Use Ordinance, and there's a possibility that some regulations could apply. For example, Tanoue said, "If a vehicle remains parked at the same location for more than 24 hours with the apparent intention to be used as an outdoor advertising device, we can get involved."

But Tanoue said that would mean that the vehicle would be used as an advertising structure with a "fixed location on the ground."

Bell said he expected a few complaints but said there's room at the bike racks for his and other bikes to share. He said two people complained that the ad bikes blocked bike parking spaces. He said he told a woman who called to lock her bike to his if she needed a parking space.

And he has received another type of attention, too — five of the ad bikes have been stolen.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.