The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride 30th September - Worldwide

This picture of Don Draper straddling a vintage Matchless motorcycle in a very sharp suit has sparked an international motorcycle event. It's been named the 'Distinguished Gentleman's Ride' and is the brainchild of Mark Hawwa from the Sydney Cafe Racers. On the 30th of September, riders from all around the world will be donning their best suit and ties (smoking pipes optional) and taking to the streets. We're told there's already a thousand riders from 20 cities around the world participating. "We are expecting this to grow as people organise their own events and inform us" says Mark. "At the moment the cities involved are – Cleveland, Houston, Minneapolis, Raleigh, Portland, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, Gauteng (Africa), Sicily, Paris, Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona and London." 

The rules for the ride are pretty simple. Everyone has to wear a suit – the bikes should be Café Racers, Bobbers, Retros, Flat Trackers, Brat or Modern Classics (and metal scooters… yep no plastic). "The ride needs to take the participants through the busy areas of each city which also ensures a slow speed" says Mark. "It's not our intention to see people going fast especially in this un-suit-able attire". Boom tish.  

If you're interested in being part of this ride in your city, you can find more details on the gentlemans site or follow them on their Facebook page. 
http://www.facebook.com/events/325077070921060/

About The Ride

The Idea

• To run an annual worldwide event when Gentleman don their suits and ride their cafe racers through town spreading merriment along the way.

How a Ride Organiser should prepare for the ride

• Promote the event via social media, email and any other method available. Lets get as many people in suits on bikes as possible.
• Choose a starting point that is easy to find and also large enough for the number of people expected to show up. Ideally the route should have a start and finishing point that allows people to have a drink and encourage people to hang around and enjoy each others company.
• Cafés are a great starting point! (if you want to start there tell them first, people will eat and drink which means you need to forewarn!)
• The safest and best way to keep everyone together is to organise a print out for the day that people can put in their pockets.
• We don’t want to see participants hitting the ton in suits. Ride safe and slow.
• Decide on a route of the ride.  The route should be through areas where it will create a spectacle. Through the city, past a populated beach etc.
• Ensure camera’s are brought and that we get the photos and videos!
• Ensure that the route is slow speed and doesn’t use freeways/highways with higher speed limits.
• If you are organizing the event let us know so we can include it on this page! Facebook events will work a treat! Next year each ride will be hosted on this website as well!
• Its not about the amount of people you get on the ride, more about the merriment you spread on the day!

Housekeeping

• The ride leader should make it very clear that this not about speed, it is just a cruise from point to point and having fun along the way.
• The ride can not start at the organizers business. It is important for the long term goal of DGR that it is not influenced by business.
• The end point should be made available to all participants so that if they get separated from the pack they can make their own way to the finishing point.
• This is a free event and no one shall be charged to participate.
• It is always wise to ensure someone on the ride is carrying a first aid kit and has first aid experience.
• The logo is Copyrighted and belongs to DGR. Please do not alter the actual logo in anyway or create any products bearing the logo. We will have shirts and patches available after the event if you wish to spread the word for 2013.

How to Share

• All participants can upload to the Facebook page.
• All participants can upload pics and videos to the website after registering (in the process of setting that up now)
• Create Posters using the original graphics (don’t modify them) add the ride details such as Place, Time, Route and put them in Café Racer related workshops and supporting businesses.
• Put posters up in cafe racer related businesses! (with their permission of course)

Please Note:

• This is a project that started 13 months ago With Sydney Cafe Racers (Perth, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane) it is our goal to bring the entire Australian Scene together and now its our goal to bring Cafe Racer enthusiasts together worldwide for this event. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate in sending me an email mark@sydneycaferacers.com This is not a full time job so we are well aware that things could/can be done better if we had more hands and more time. Enjoy the event as the first ever; we will work even harder to make 2013 bigger and better!