A Doctors Wish

When a certain, Surgical Oncologist Dr. Kevin Higgins of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto contacted CarbonWorks early spring of 2013 requesting a specific custom paint project for his R5 and S5 Cervelo frames, we knew this was going to be a special project. We had a tight deadline to meet at that time, but we both agreed that we should postpone this project till the fall when he will stop riding for the cycling season and we would then have the time to work on his custom project.

We did get a call on a sunny October fall day from Kevin, we met and then we started to clearly scope out and document his special wish on a custom paint project for both frames. He wanted to clearly make a legacy statement for his father that passed away, who donated his time, resources and finances to help nurses and health staff reach their full potential through educational grants and scholarship funds. Kevin developed a special family crest that he wanted CarbonWorks to apply to both frames. He also wanted these words to appear on the top tube, “Quitting is not an Option.”

We waited till we moved to our new state of the art facilities in December so that we can provide the very best state of the art equipment for this special project.  We have special paint autoclaves which are temperature controlled, walk in autoclave carbon repair centers, and a complete decal sticker department all under one roof.

We then had to strip both frames, sand down all original factory stickers and decals, and prepare both frames for painting. We added a primer base on both frames in order to provide proper evenly paint adhesion. Kevin wanted the frames to be painted metallic gray. We provided a quick mock up and email him a sample for his review and approval. We then went ahead and painted both frames metallic gray. Three layers of PPG paint from Italy with excellent UV Rays Retardant properties. The paint was applied in our state of the art paint chamber facility at a constant temperature at 55 Degrees C. We then cured it for 24 hours at 155 Degrees C in order to ensure proper paint adhesion.

We then transferred the frames to our decal and sticker department, where we applied all the decals, and stickers onto the frame exactly at the locations that Kevin wanted.

We emailed Kevin for his approval, he reviewed it and then requested another flag to be applied next to his name on the frame near the seat tube which we did. We also did some modifications as requested by Kevin. Finally we were ready to proceed to the clear coat process. We applied three layers of Aerospace clear coat on both frames to protect the finish.

Finally we had both bikes built up, and added new cables for the brake lines as well, Kevin wanted new Swiss Brake pads installed for the New Year.

The day finally came when we presented both bikes to Kevin, watching him I noticed a smile come across his face, and moment of reflection, he uttered these words, “You hit a home run, this is a work of art”.  I noticed he also looked at the top tube and reflected on those words, “Quitting is not an Option.” I suspect that he will glance down during his rides, especially while climbing many steep hills, those words will remind him not to give up, keep going and to reach the top, in every facet of his life.

We at CarbonWorks are honored to have been given such as task, to make Kevin’s wish come true, special thanks to Shawn in our paint department, Tiffany in our decal and sticker department, as well as the boys at the Oakville Cyclepath Store who both stripped the bikes and built them up to the specific requirements. From time to time, some custom paint projects have a special meaning that is why we share such stories.