Through mid-August, one of the galleries at the Museum of Arts and Design is being given over to the bike nerds--and specifically, two of the biggest bike nerds in the world: Michael Maharam, best known as the owner of Maharam textiles who's a fool for collecting bikes, and Sacha White, who runs Vanilla Cycles. The two organized "Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle," an exhibition featuring six of the most famous bike-builders in the world. In all, 21 bikes are on display in the show. Here's a preview.

Pictured here, a road-bike by Italian bike-builder Dario Pegoretti, who's won numerous awards from design snobs and bike geeks alike.

Pegoretti takes special pride in his hand-painted frames, which are often thick with impressionistic brush strokes.

Another Pegoretti frame. In the early 1990s, Pegoretti built frames for some of the biggest legends of the Tour de France, including Miguel Indurain and Marco Pantani.

The drive train of a mountain bike built by Jeff Jones. It takes an extreme attention to detail to make a bike frame by hand that also manages to cram in so many modern components, such as disc brakes and a massive gear cassette. Note the precise curve in the seat-stay, which allows the chain lots of movement in nasty terrain, prevents mud from accumulating, and also makes the components easy to access during fixes.

A stunning set of handlebars forged by Jones.

Almost all bikes today are welded, which saves materials and money. But old-school bike nerds such as J. Peter Weigle prefer lugged joints, which involves fitting the frame's piping into a "lug," using brazing. Since lugs are so strong, the frame can be thinner.

The lugs themselves have, for decades, been a point of pride for custom bike makers, because it's the one place where embellishments don't junk up the bike or reduce the strength of the frame. It's also incredibly hard to forge such fine detailing into the piece, and it takes dozens of finishing steps to accomplish.

One of Sacha White's commuter-style bikes. Vanilla Cycles, his company, has a wait-list five years long. And the bikes can easily cost upwards of $8,000--that is, as much, if not more, than the highest-tech bikes you can get on the market.

One of White's more modern-style fixed gear bicycles. Almost the entire bike has been built by hand--including the frame, the seatpost, the stem, and the handlebars. (The later two are a single piece--a signature of White's bikes.) Check out one of his more-classic track bikes here.

Detail of the wheel on one of White's labors of love: A tricycle for his kid, which would cost you about as much as a semester at private school. (White's kid isn't named "Phil." The hub itself is made by bike legend Phil Wood.)