The bikes speak for themselves at North American Handmade Bike Show in Austin

The North American Handmade Bike Show is akin to South by Southwest for bike geeks. The event showcases both major players in the cycling industry and upstart bike builders. It appeals to the most ardent of cycling aficionados, as well as people who simply appreciate a beautifully constructed, handmade, two-wheeled machine.

The first North American Handmade Bike Show was held in Houston six years ago. Custom frame builder Don Walker, formerly based in Waco, founded the event and still oversees its organization. Since its inception, the show has grown in size from 23 exhibitors and 700 attendees to more than 100 exhibitors and 6,000 attendees. It's crossed the country, spreading the gospel of bicycles in cycling hot spots such as Portland, Ore., and Richmond, Va., and become a living testament to the artistry of bicycle-building. Now fully grown, the event is coming home to Texas.

Though a sense of community permeates the exhibits at the show, the builders - no matter the size of their operation or their intended audience - will admit that they're attempting to outdo each other. The bikes on display range from immaculately designed and mind-bogglingly practical city bikes to avant-garde featherweight racers constructed from the rarest of earthly materials. (Custom bikes, for the frame and fork only, start around $1,200 and go up from there.)

The handmade bike show is even known to draw notable bike-loving celebrities, such as Robin Williams and Austin's own cycling star, Lance Armstrong. At the 2008 show in Portland, Armstrong purchased the bike awarded Best in Show. It now hangs above the cash register at his downtown Austin bike shop, Mellow Johnny's.

Five Austin builders of custom bike frames will exhibit at this year's show, including Nick Crumpton, who's listed as one of the half-dozen builders who've attended the North American Handmade Bike Show since the event's inauguration. The profiles below give a glimpse of the history, mindset and construction process that leads to each Austin-based builder's final product. In the end, though, the bikes speak for themselves.

KirkLee Bicycles

www.kirkleebicycles.com

After graduating from Texas A&M University in 2005 with an MBA and undergraduate degree in industrial distribution, Brad Cason knew he wanted to make custom bicycles. At first, he contemplated more education - taking classes specifically geared toward bike frame construction. Then, says Cason, "I thought to myself, I could spend two to three thousand dollars on classes. Or, I could spend the same amount of money on materials and tools and teach myself."

Not long after receiving his first order of raw carbon fiber, Cason crafted his own hand-built, carbon-fiber mountain bike frame. He dubbed the bike KirkLee #001 and set about testing it. During a visit to his shop, located in a small garage behind his Allandale home, Cason pulls the retired #001 frame out from underneath a worktable. "I raced this bike off-road all over Texas," he says. "After three years of abuse without any problems, I decided I was ready to go into business."

Today, Cason is one of the few handmade bike-frame builders in the nation using carbon fiber. And although many builders outsource the manufacturing of the carbon-fiber tubing to larger companies, Cason makes almost all of the individual parts used to construct a frame himself. The carbon-fiber frame tubes are set in machined, aluminum molds Cason designed, then cast into rigid structures in his shop's industrial-quality oven. "I don't want to just assemble a bike someone else built," he says.

In addition to their sleek, modern look, KirkLee bikes frequently attract attention for their unique paint jobs. At this weekend's bike show, keep an eye out for KirkLee's latest masterpiece, a bike based on Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

Alchemy Bicycles

www.alchemybicycles.com

Though it's one of Austin's newest custom bike shops, Alchemy Bicycles, located on Ben White Boulevard in South Austin, contains no shortage of ambition. Upon entering Alchemy, customers step into a state-of-the-art fitting area and showroom. On display is the wide variety of bicycles made by Alchemy, from rigid-steel mountain bikes to titanium and carbon-fiber road racers. Each frame starts here with a custom bike fit, using a fully adjustable stationary bike and 3-D imaging technology.