Triumph creates one-off Bonneville for Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

TRIUMPH has unveiled a one-off Bonneville, designed especially for this Sunday’s Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride.

Triumph ambassador, actor and comedian Rufus Hound pulled the covers from the unique model on Monday at the Bikeshed, where a launch was held for the worldwide charity event.

The Triumph ‘Dapper Bonnie DGR100’ is based on the T100 model, and features burnt orange paintwork, a Harris Tweed seat and a selection of Triumph’s own aftermarket accessories.

It will be ridden through London on Sunday by Phil Green, an A and E nurse from the Midlands who was diagnosed with prostate cancer seven years ago. A lifelong biker, Phil has joined forces with the DGR and partner charity, Movember, to help raise awareness of men’s mental health, prostate cancer and the benefits of early detection.

Justin Coghlan, who helped found Movember back in 2003, said at the launch: “On average a man will live, globally, 6 years less than women. And that’s through not getting early detected, not understanding what genetically can happen, that’s through diet, through exercise, through a bunch of things, which we know we can control and have effect with if we just get people educated and share that knowledge.

“By 2030, our aim is to reduce male suicide by 25 per cent and get men living six years longer. It’s about getting guys to step up and go through a process of looking after their own health, checking in and getting themselves sorted, just like women do.

The 44-year-old Australian added: “DGR works really well because you’ve got a whole group of mates playing with motorbikes and hanging out. So they’re working on things, they’re not actually having a face-to-face conversation – which they’re not good at – they’re good at the shoulder-to-shoulder conversation, so they’re breaking the ice by doing.”

The Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride was founded in 2012 by Australian Mark Hawwa, 32, who saw a photo of a smarty dressed Don Draper sat astride a classic motorcycle, and decided that it would be a good way to dispel the often-negative biker image. Over the past five years, the charity ride has grown exponentially, and raised almost £6million for the causes.

In 2017, more than 70,000 riders are expected to take part, in 600-plus cities across 95 countries, with a goal of raising £3.7 million.

Speaking about the ride’s evolution, Hawwa said: “We knew that what we were doing was creating this amazing event, breaking stereotypes and getting men talking about their health on a global scale. 2012 was just about breaking stereotypes, but from 2013 we decided to support prostate cancer and in 2016 we partnered up with Movember.

“The mental health element came in because one of ride hosts took his own life back in 2015, so we decided to use a percentage of the funds to push mental health awareness and get guys talking about themselves. And this year we’ve actually doubled that to 20 per cent.”