Joe Parkin is the editor of Bike and Paved magazines

Chris King spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 hours building his beautiful, all-stainless bike. Adding to the build time, King took on the task of making each of its lugs by hand. And accordingly, meeting the NAHBS deadline was a nail biter that involved pushing workdays into the wee hours of the morning.

Yes, the bike is beautiful. Yes, you would like to own one. But there were hundreds of beautiful bikes on display in Austin over the weekend.

What made this bike the standout of the show for me is the fact that King constructed it as a gift for one of his valued staff—a very personal recognition of hard work and dedication. “Someone is going to be really surprised, he told me just hours before presenting it.

I found this to be the ultimate expression of the custom bike experience the builder’s heart, soul, experience, imagination and dedication all poured into one singular, special project. Custom bikes are so much more than an assemblage of tubes, parts and paint, after all.