2007 has, for us at MotorbikesToday at least, been a funny old year. Insurance difficulties, combined with a chronic staff shortage, have made it difficult for us to do our normal complement of bike reviews and our general news covering capability has taken a bit of a hit too. All in all, for us at least, objectively I'd have to give us a "C - could do better" end of year report. So we'll take it on the chin and resolve that in 2008 we'll get back to the sort of standard that you deserve and, indeed, expect of us.

New bikes have been popping onto the scene with surprising regularity. Among those which caught our collective eyes are the B-King and new Hayabusa, both from Suzuki and both, frankly, barking mad. Suzuki should be praised both for having the courage to release a bike in a similar (albeit not supercharged) form to that originally touted as a concept machine, as well as delivering a healthy two fingered salute to the anti-fun brigade who would have us all riding strangled scooters if they could. Suzuki also brought a welcome update to both the small and large Bandits, with the new models hitting the street for real at the beginning of the year. All four of these bikes should be appearing here in road tests very shortly.

Ducati, of course, launched their new 1098 and have just announced its baby brother the 848. Both promise great things, both have great challenges ahead of them in the motorsports arena (more on that later) and both seek to redress the sales hit that Ducati took when they released the almost universally unloved 999/749 range. And who said that we're shallow when it comes to our buying patterns? Certainly the new bikes look great and are, I guess, prettier than the previous model.

Triumph gave us a few new bikes, with a Street Triple standing head and shoulders above the rest as a genuine contender for the best urban bike ever. And BMW got in there with a raft of utterly un BMW like machinery - paraller twins and truly mental proper competition bikes that really do stamp them as being at the very leading edge of their game.

Yes, the new bike scene is thriving, statistics say that there are more of us buying and riding bikes than ever and statistically we've never been safer, either. Life is good.

World Superbikes gave us a start to finish series leader in the shape of our very own James Toseland. The 2004 champion took the second race in Qatar from new boy Max Biaggi (who won the first race with JT second) and never looked back, spending the first half of the season constantly on the podium. 2007 was the twentieth year of the championship and turned out to be one of the best with three riders in with a real shot at the title by the time the final round came up at Magny Cours. Toseland finally lifted it by just two points from Haga with Biaggi third. James is now going off to MotoGP to try his luck there, and we wish him all the very best. For now, though, it seems that perhaps we've now seen the bset of the series as Ducati have bullied the organisers into allowing them to run a 1200 in 2008 as an attempt to counter the superior power of the four cylinder machines. A cynic might suggest that the 999 isn't exactly slow as it is, and there isn't currently a 1200cc road going Ducati so the larger capacity rather makes a mockery of the production based nature of the series so the changes must be simply aimed at returning SBK to a Ducati championship. We'll have to see.

Talking of MotoGP, the first season with the new 800cc bikes was, in our opinion anyway, something of a disappointment. The spectacle has now gone, there is little of the scrapping for position that we used to enjoy so much and the race pace hasn't really changed. The 800s may not be as fast in a straight line as the old 990s but they make up for it in corner speed. Overtaking on the brakes is now pretty rare, and passing now only seems to happen as the result ofa mistake by the other rider or a disproportionate speed advantage on the straights, as so ably demonstrated by the totally dominant Casey Stoner on the Ducati. Stoner destroyed the opposition, with even Rossi unable to really counter very much. The Australian had the title in the bag with several races to go and, though we can't knock him for his ability or efficiency, seeing him clear off into the distance yet again didn't exactly make for inspirational viewing. Rossi's title challenge was blunted by some massive tyre problems early in the season and, despite a few brilliant showings, the Italian simply couldn't match the consistent pace of the Ducati. So Stoner, at just 21 years old, lifted Ducati's first ever MotoGP title and went back to Australia a very happy chap indeed. The 800s have arrived and are here to stay, but with lap records still being broken and corner speeds (where crashes happen) being higher than ever before I confess that I am pressed to see any benefits to be gained by either riders or spectators.

There have been other newsworthy events, outside the motorsport worls, of course. A mad Irishman went tearing all round Europe for charity, for example. And closer to home, the law finally swung in our favour as a landmark ruling found in favour of a filtering motorcyclist.

This year has seen its fair share of departures. MotoGP and World Superbike racer Norick Abe was killed in a traffic accident in Japan, stunt legend Evel Knievel finally succumbed to the lung and liver dieases which had been ravaging his already battered body for some time and rally ace and rather handy motorcyclist Colin McRae died in a helicopter crash. British Superbikes lost a rising star in shape of Ollie Bridewell, who died in a practice crash at Mallory Park in July. To all their families and friends, and to anyone else who may have lost someone not mentioned here, we extend our sympathies.

So what are the most significant things of the year so far for you?

As usual, we'd like to hear your opinions on:

Bike of the year - bikes launched during 2007 which have excited you the most

Ride of the year (very subjective, we want to hear about your favourite or most significant ride of the year)

Person of the year - bike related, obviously

Event of the year - bike related again

What you're looking forward to the most in 2008

So please, come over to the forum and tell us what you think...

SB