Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is part of a global custom motorcycle event that is giving the marching orders to prostate cancer. The event was established in Malaysia in 2012 with the idea put forward by an architect who is also the cafe racer motorcycle enthusiasts; Kamarul Azahar bin Azman.
He was friends with Mark Hawwa from Sydney, founder of DGR through Facebook. From that sparked the idea to introduce this event in the Malaysia. The first edition of the DGR in Kuala Lumpur in 2012 only managed to gather 5 classic cafe racer motorcycle riders and 20 Vespa club members. However, it got the attention of the public who were excited to see a glimpse of the convoy of motorcyclists wearing full suits.
The success of the first edition saw the establishment of the Naked13 Cafe Racer Club where Akbar Sahari, the brainchild of the club also one of the participants for DGR 2012 who owns a cafe racer bike. The club is limited to 9 members where Kamarul Azahar is also part of Naked13 Cafe Racer thus making the club to be the sole organizer for DGR in Kuala Lumpur.
Unexpectedly, DGR second and third edition in 2013 and 2014 received overwhelming response from both riders and sponsors. In 2014, the ride had turned larger where international participation from Japan and Australia together with locals managed to gather around 400 motorcycles.
In term of collecting funds for the Prostate Cancer, in 2013, over 11,000 participants in 145 cities around the world raised $277,000 for prostate cancer research.
In 2014, over 20,000 participants in 257 cities in 58 countries raised over $1.5 million (USD) for prostate cancer research. The fundraising goal for 2015 is $3 million (USD). The 4th edition of DGR in Malaysia this year will be different where 3 other cities will be riding simultaneously on 27 September.
Besides Kuala Lumpur, DGR will be held in Penang, Kuching and Miri in Sarawak. The vision is to expand the influence of the DGR and also giving opportunity to other riders especially in Sarawak.
