GENERAL NEWS

10 YEARS OF DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMEN

RIDING DAPPER FOR A CAUSE - WILL YOU BE GETTING INVOLVED?

BY Jake Tindall ON 16 April 2021

In its tenth year of running, the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride is an event that takes place all across the globe. Started in Sydney Australia founder Mark Hawwa decided a themed ride would be a great way of connecting the fantastic Moto community (both men and women) whilst raising funds to support the men in our lives.

The idea started after Hawwa’s trip to Japan, where he fell in love with the motorcycle culture but upon returning to Australia found he had no one to ride with so explored the option of motorcycle clubs. Not wanting to get involved with the official nature and hierarchy of a club, he started Sydney Cafe Racers.
“After a few years we had a few thousand riders and we extended it to other cities in Australia. I never did it for any financial gain, it was just to bring people together at a local level. It was then that I saw the photo of Don Draper in Mad Men and the idea of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride came straight to me and I wanted to do exactly the same thing as the café racers on a global scale. We reached 64 cities in 16 countries in the first year with 2,500 riders.”

Since the first ride in 2012, DGR has raised over $28M for charity… now that’s pretty incredible, isn't it? They work in particular with the Movember Foundation, a charity which deals with Mental Health, Suicide Prevention, Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer. Since 2003, Movember has funded more than 1250 men’s health projects around the world challenging the status quo, shaking up research and motivating men to take action for their health.

You’ll be in good company, in 2019 the Gentleman’s ride had over 130,000 registered riders across 700 towns/cities from 102 countries. That's quite something. For any lover of two wheels, there’s nothing quite like the sound of burbling exhausts from an idle engine… now picture the cacophony of thunderous rumbling from hundreds of motorcycles as they all ride as one.

Inspired by photos of the old school dapper folk on classic bikes, the DGR took shape by bringing classic and vintage styled motorcycles together. With riders donned in tweed and sporting old school open-faced helmets, this is certainly an event to look your best for. Of course, there is a dress code, and that’s not just for riders…. These events are strictly for vintage and classic bikes (styled bikes) so unfortunately you can’t just rock up on your R1. The great thing about this is you get to see some amazing bikes you may otherwise never see which are all rolled out the shed and polished up for the event.

There are a few changes ahead for the 10th year of the DGR. After many battles with the challenges of September weather, organisers have decided to permanently move the dates of the ride to May and holding it this years on the 23rd of May. Now with this being an event that runs across the globe, organisers have laid out three formats in which the ride will take place this year to ensure that everyone is safe and complying with local COVID restrictions.

Solo Ride - similar for the majority of participants last year, for those who can’t participate in mass gatherings these rides will be riding solo.
Route Only Ride - this means you can ride the route as a group but to ensure the event is COVID safe there will be no start or regroup at the end.
Normal COVID-Safe Ride - the ride will go ahead as normal with all COVID-safe provisions ensuring it follows local guidelines.

If you’re unsure which applies to your area, head over to the Gentleman's Ride website and search for your local area to find out.