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DJ Dr Fox reveals his love of Harleys
When you hear that Neil Fox loves
motorbikes, his tailor-made role among the
predominantly macho judges of Pop Idol
seems to fit that much tighter. Along with
Simon Cowell and Pete Waterman, here,
you think, is another man who likes his
action fast, his women belting out hits and
his engines screaming.
But the long-time Capital Radio DJ eschews
the blink-and-you’ve-missed me culture of
sports bikes (or crotch rockets, as the
Americans unkindly call them). Instead,
Foxy rides Harleys.
Now, the Hog may seem like shorthand for
male inferiority therapy, but Fox says it’s
the bike’s laid-back quality that seduced
him: “I’m not a Harley snob. They’re just
the ones I like riding. I don’t want to go
180mph. I don’t want to die on a
motorbike. Having ridden sports bikes, I
know that anything that accelerates that
fast would eventually kill me. I don’t want
to die yet. I’m having too much fun.”
Fox’s obsession with bikes started young.
Before he was 16 and allowed on a road, he
put 80 miles on an old Puch moped just
riding round and round his parents’ garden
in Thames Ditton, Surrey. He arrived at the
Harley Davidson via scramblers and sports
bikes, but is now happiest on his 1450cc
Dyna Low Rider. “If you have a Harley, you’
re part of a club,” he says.
A club for individuals, however. Neither
Hogs nor radio DJs are famed for their
subtlety, and Fox has taken full advantage
of the Harley custom aftermarket. He’s
swapped wheels, painted frames and even
added flames. “The thought of a bike with
metal-plate flames across it is disgusting to
some people,” he admits. “But I don’t ride
Harleys for other people, I ride it for
myself.”
Most years he lives the Harley dream and
spends a week or two cruising through
some sparsely populated corner of America.
But aren’t they a nightmare to ride back in
London? “People who’ve never ridden one
say they handle like a pig. They don’t if
you know how to ride one. But like
anything, you get used to it.
“I ride to work pretty much every day,
unless I’m doing some telly stuff, because
you can’t really end up looking smart when
you get off a bike. I can get from home
[off the King’s Road] to work and park my
bike in the basement of Capital in 15
minutes.”
The next project is a Fat Boy (costing
£13,295 new), to which Fox is going to give
a “very subtle custom”. Not for him the slick
V-Rod, a Harley that for once looks to the
future, not the past (“Its job is to catch
disgruntled sports bike owners”). But even
subtly done the Fat Boy will draw sneers;
not that Fox cares. “Some people hate
Harleys. But you can’t knock it till you’ve
tried it.”
Nick Gibbs
motorbikes, his tailor-made role among the
predominantly macho judges of Pop Idol
seems to fit that much tighter. Along with
Simon Cowell and Pete Waterman, here,
you think, is another man who likes his
action fast, his women belting out hits and
his engines screaming.
But the long-time Capital Radio DJ eschews
the blink-and-you’ve-missed me culture of
sports bikes (or crotch rockets, as the
Americans unkindly call them). Instead,
Foxy rides Harleys.
Now, the Hog may seem like shorthand for
male inferiority therapy, but Fox says it’s
the bike’s laid-back quality that seduced
him: “I’m not a Harley snob. They’re just
the ones I like riding. I don’t want to go
180mph. I don’t want to die on a
motorbike. Having ridden sports bikes, I
know that anything that accelerates that
fast would eventually kill me. I don’t want
to die yet. I’m having too much fun.”
Fox’s obsession with bikes started young.
Before he was 16 and allowed on a road, he
put 80 miles on an old Puch moped just
riding round and round his parents’ garden
in Thames Ditton, Surrey. He arrived at the
Harley Davidson via scramblers and sports
bikes, but is now happiest on his 1450cc
Dyna Low Rider. “If you have a Harley, you’
re part of a club,” he says.
A club for individuals, however. Neither
Hogs nor radio DJs are famed for their
subtlety, and Fox has taken full advantage
of the Harley custom aftermarket. He’s
swapped wheels, painted frames and even
added flames. “The thought of a bike with
metal-plate flames across it is disgusting to
some people,” he admits. “But I don’t ride
Harleys for other people, I ride it for
myself.”
Most years he lives the Harley dream and
spends a week or two cruising through
some sparsely populated corner of America.
But aren’t they a nightmare to ride back in
London? “People who’ve never ridden one
say they handle like a pig. They don’t if
you know how to ride one. But like
anything, you get used to it.
“I ride to work pretty much every day,
unless I’m doing some telly stuff, because
you can’t really end up looking smart when
you get off a bike. I can get from home
[off the King’s Road] to work and park my
bike in the basement of Capital in 15
minutes.”
The next project is a Fat Boy (costing
£13,295 new), to which Fox is going to give
a “very subtle custom”. Not for him the slick
V-Rod, a Harley that for once looks to the
future, not the past (“Its job is to catch
disgruntled sports bike owners”). But even
subtly done the Fat Boy will draw sneers;
not that Fox cares. “Some people hate
Harleys. But you can’t knock it till you’ve
tried it.”
Nick Gibbs