Around here being in a 3rd tier city it only costs about 500RMB to plate a bike and barely 100RMB for the minimal insurance, yet only about 50% of the Chinese bikes you see on the road are plated and with the riding 'enthusiasts' about 20% have a plate and 50% of those are very likely fake. Loads of Chinese riders ride their Jialing 125cc 'cabbage' dirt bikes, which cannot be plated as they are a group of self assembled parts (3-4000RMB), unless they are the 7000RMB factory version. Or come in the souped up scooter variety. Even about 70% of the foreigners who have ridden here have been illegal, but 80% are on at least legally plated bikes. Illegal Chinese riders are often seen not even wearing helmets. Their rationalizations are quite nutty, 'everyone does that so why should I be different' being number one. There are quite a few legal riders these days and they ride on Qianjiang 150cc bikes or Yamaha YBR125.

I have mixed feelings about illegal riders.

In some ways I'm sympathetic:
1. The insurance is a bit of a joke, you'll pay anyhow.
2.Lights are set up stupidly by the police, many people go through red lights, but actually yield to other vehicles, treating it as a normal intersection rather than slavishly waiting there an eternity.
3. I rode without a Chinese license for many years, because I already had a license from another country, stupidly not recognized in China, a country with much lower riding standards, anyone here for a year or two could be forgiven in my view for not running out and getting a Chinese license, that is if they have already taken a test someplace else.
4. Some legally imported big bikes pre 1998 were 'illegalized' and the plates pulled by police, I have sympathy with the owner of one of these machines to screw the rules and just keep riding it.
5. Some of the costs in some provinces and cities are ridiculously expensive.

In some ways unsympathetic:
1. You are a guest in China, surely just follow the rules as they would be set out in your own country, stupid rationalizations. Or at least try and look legal.
2. Many cheap big bikes are stolen from Hong Kong and then rebuilt by idiots. Seriously you must be some sociopath if you can live with riding someone else's ride. Not to mention the danger of poor assembly.
3. We need legal riders to be a force to protect motorcycling in China. If we don't ride illegal bikes we get to complain about the erosion of motorcycling legality and legitimately press for some change, also the government gets more money from registrations and more demand for legitimately domestically manufactured and imported bikes, meaning that motorcycling be more likely to stay legal.
4. Nothing will speed up bike bans quicker than swarms of souped-up scooters and dirt bikes without plates, and idiots night racing stolen illegal big bikes through city centers. Keep riding=keep legal.