‘Our Noble Experience’, with Daniel Maglietta

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is quite a unique event with every rider participating for their own, unique, reasons. Each year, we see new modes of expressions to articulate and represent these. This year, we met Daniel, who, along with fellow gentlemen Flavio Nappi and Luca Rubinacci, expressed their noble experience of DGR through the medium of a custom motorcycle build. We took some time to ask Daniel a few questions about himself, the build, and what he has planned for it.

Tell us a little about yourself, what you do, and what motivated you into this project.
I’m Daniel, I’m 35, I am half Italian and half British. I am a brand partnerships professional & support brands in communicating to their target audience via entertainment. I felt the urge of giving back in some way and DGR assesses two very important topics were I am particularly sensitive to, men’s mental health and cancer research and combines it with my all time passion: Motorbikes.

What inspired such a unique name choice for the build?
The name was the result of a brainstorming with my friend Flavio in our home town Naples. We wanted to include a strong word “Noble” to emphasise that the project is based on high moral principles.

The design features a few unique points, such as the colour choice, pattern, seat, and of course – the Zenith watch; what inspired the design of this bike?
The idea was to create a true Gentleman icon and for this there is no better inspiration than Luca Rubinacci. Rubinacci is the master of Neapolitan tailoring, it has a fantastic history and has been around for three generations, it’s an institution in today’s bespoke tailoring industry. Luca suggested the use of a jeans coloured vintage fabric. The best part of this fabric – the more you use it the better it looks. We also thought that other central elements of a bespoke suit should be implemented such as the herringbone pattern and the chalk marks. The watch is a fundamental element of a gentleman and the project required a prestigious watchmaker. Zenith has a long-lasting history in the watch industry, it was founded in 1865 by Georges Favre-Jacot who is still considered nowadays a revolutionary in the watch industry. The integration of the Pilot Ton-Up was with no doubt the cherry on the cake. The model has a mixture of a vintage and sporty design and features the renown El Primero 4069 movement, all features that just fits perfectly on the bike. From there onwards the merit goes to the finest motorbike customisation atelier, South Garage. Giuseppe, Enzo and all the South Garage team have proved to be true artists. They had the vision of putting a concept into practice and creating a fantastic piece of art.

How did DGR impact the style choices of this bike?
The values this motorbike represents are inspired from DGR, from its Founder Mark Hawwa and from the Gentleman that attend the event every year. In honour of the aforementioned we have integrated the DGR logo onto the fuel cap which has been created with a special laser technology.

A lot of great names came together on this, including Zenith Watches, Luca Rubinacci, and South Garage; what role did they each play in collaborating and designing this bike?
Aside from collaborating with the donation of the accessories, the brands are also supporting with the communication. Back in September Luca Rubinacci did one of his famous “gentleman tips” on his Instagram and Facebook channels where we talked about the project and the special features the motorbike has. The motorbike was also placed at the Rubinacci store in Milan the month of September. In early November I was invited at the Zenith manufacturing site for a photo shoot with Julien Tornare (CEO of Zenith). South Garage aside from the fantastic customisation, makes sure the motorbike is always present at the trade shows it sponsors.

What motivated you to select the New Triumph Thruxton as the base for your custom project?
The Thruxton R since its release has always been on my radar, when I joined the DGR auction in Milan in October 2017 and saw it there it was love at first sight. What I particularly like of the motorbike is it’s vintage/café racer look, it’s elegant, it’s sporty it’s fast, it’s fun and it has an amazing sound. I simply can’t find a negative aspect to it.

Talk us through the more technical aspects of this build, what challenged you, and how did you overcome it.
In terms of technical aspects, the bike was already fantastic with it’s original features so there was not much to be done. We replaced the exhausts and added “drag pipes” instead, to enhance its elegancy. The most challenging part was the creation of the watch holder for the Zenith Pilot and where it should be placed. Once we decided that the perfect location was in the instrument panel between the speedometer and tachometer the challenge was to ensure the safety of the watch. Again, South Garage came up with the perfect solution and created a bespoke watch-holder that is both elegant and safe.

What’s the plan for the bike, now?
The idea is to have this bike turning up at gentleman-related events such as Pitti, Motorbike reunions, fashion Week around the world to remind every man out there the importance of taking care of himself, whether it’s for testing yourself or to seek psychological support.

Anything built out of passion, and with the aim to bring awareness of prostate cancer and mental health is, in itself, a noble cause.

Daniel, thank you for your motivation in bringing those around you together to continue spreading the word, and for your support.