As a native New Yorker, I have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who tries to make a living from the bouroughs, but even before I knew the zip code of Morpheus bikes they had caught my eye. Easily the most impressive looking bike in the New Exhibitor section, Morpheus has an interesting philosophy—they craft complete bike builds without compromise.

While many of the big companies cut corners with parts to hit certain price points, this company specs bikes to be not only completely functional but beautiful as well, opting for a kit that's as pretty to look at as we're betting they are to ride.

Take for example the Oracle World Cup, which comes with a full SRAM X-0 kit, Industry 9 wheelset and a custom built anodized swinger arm connected to a Rock Shox Monarch 2.4 shock. Morpheus specs the hi-mod carbon frame set to their design from the same Taiwanese factories that the big boys use, and they craft and anodize the swinger arms themselves. A complete full-suspension cross country bike weighs around 21 pounds and comes in around $4100. The "bailout" model with an awesome (though not as chi-chi) of a build is under $4000.

We were especially impressed with the little touches—the sparkle coating in the frame matches the color scheme of the bikes and the head-tube badge is made from 6061 aluminum.

We'll throw our legs over some of these bikes soon for test rides of the Oracle, the Cyclops hardtail and the Hermes road bick soon—the guys will be coming up to ride with us,so look forward to a full test.