Cowboys and Crooks

This motorcycle hit the biking scene in 1979 and stayed in production for only 4 years. It is a Honda CBX 1000 and it is a legend among bikes of the late 70s and early 80s. In fact, it is a legend period.

I rode a CBX two or more times in the early 80s. It belonged to a brother called Steven Lingham. The bike fit Steven in more than one way. Both were really big in spirit and size.

Steven was a few years older than me. I was about 6 and he probably 10 or so when we played together at my grandparents' house. He had a reputation for being a naughty kid but I liked him. We would play cowboys and crooks in the yard while my grandfather loaded building material onto his truck.

Steven and I spent many hazy afternoons being just kids. We knew nothing about the dehumanizing apartheid world just outside the walls of 65 Barkly Road that contained our childhood friendship.

Later when my parents and I moved here to number 11 Steven stopped by and gave me my first pair of nunchucks. He made them crudely at home. I still have those nunchucks, 35 plus years later.

The Honda CBX 1000 is a 24 valve 6 cylinder bike. It weighs about 600 pounds and is hard to ride. Part of the problem is that it feels top heavy and kinda tipsy. It reminded me of a heavily pregnant woman (sorry sistas). In 1979 the engine was a leap forward in technology. It produced 105 bhp at 9,000 rpm and its designer, Shoichiro Irimajiri, was hailed as a genius. Just look at all that chrome and pipes!


I left South Africa shortly after riding Steven's red CBX. We never talked again. And I never saw him again. Someone told me he got married but that it was not a happy marraige. There were rumors of infidelity. Steven's heart was broken.

Then one day I heard that he had taken his life. I guess he could not take the weight of his failed marraige. I was deeply saddened. Saddened also by the recognition that people were mean to him all his life. Folks poked fun at his weight. And I heard that when his marraige failed people poked fun at that too.

Small towns are almost always cruel places to live! And Kimberley is no exception, still.

Whenever I see a CBX, or a picture of a CBX, I think of Steven. It is a fused memory I cherish. Just like those beautiful childhood afternoons he played the cowboy and I the crook.

May he rest in peace. InshaAllah.