MORENCI — Even as a kid, Will Harsh enjoyed fixing bicycles. 

“I really liked tinkering with stuff and I really liked bikes,” he said. “I would fix them up and sell them at the family garage sale.”

So the fact that he ended up as the owner of a bike shop is no surprise.

What’s a little more surprising is that he started C&W Cycle between his junior and senior year of high school. And when he opened the store 30 years ago, he had no way of knowing that — as independent bike stores in other communities closed — he would end up one of the only bike retailers for miles around, with customers driving from as far as two hours away to shop at his Morenci store.

He now operates C&W Cycle — a name that originally came from the initials of himself and his brother Chuck — alongside his wife of 23 years, Amanda, who left her teaching job at Madison schools several years ago to focus on the store. It’s just a two-person operation, but their reputation has spread.

C&W Cycle specializes in BMX equipment — and the couple even operated a BMX track at Wakefield Park for several years — which has helped make them a destination for BMX racers.

“Most shops don’t carry BMX stuff, and if they do, it’s a very limited selection,” Amanda said.

As a result, their regular customers include BMX enthusiasts from as far away as Detroit and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

But although BMX has always been a specialty, they don’t limit themselves to one niche.

“We’re a family shop,” Will said. “We try to have a little bit of something for everybody.”

The Harshes make sure the brands they carry are high-quality so that they’ll last a long time. At mass-market stores, Will said, bikes are “more of a disposable product” that aren’t really meant to last.

“We do have to be a little fussy about what we sell, because we want people to be happy with what they buy,” he said.

But they also want to make sure good bikes are affordable, so in addition to selling new bikes, they fix up older ones — usually people’s trade-ins — and restore them to like-new condition.

“We fully service them and detail them, so you’re not getting somebody else’s problems,” Amanda said.

As a result, Will said, people who can’t necessarily pay for a new high-end bike can still get something that was made to last.

“If they can afford a new cheap bike, they can afford a good used bike instead, and that will treat them better in the long run,” he said.

On purchases of new bicycles, C&W offers free small adjustments for life. This helps bikes last longer because small problems can be caught before they turn into big problems.

“I’ve done that from Day One on the new bikes,” Will said.

When C&W Cycle was started 30 years ago, there were plenty of bike shops around. Adrian had two, and Tecumseh had one. That’s part of the reason why Will, who was going into his senior year at Onsted High School at the time, chose Morenci as a location. In addition to the fact that there was a good building available, there wasn’t already a bike shop in the area.

All of those stores have since closed, leaving the Harshes as the owners of the only new bike store in Lenawee County. (Re-Bicycle Lenawee, a volunteer-run nonprofit in Adrian, deals in repairing and refurbishing used bicycles.)

Despite all the changes in the market, the C&W Cycle store at 702 North St. doesn’t look all that different from the way it looked 30 years ago. There’s a showroom in the front, a showroom in the back, and a repair shop in the middle. On the walls of both showrooms can be seen several whimsical touches, such as a wooden-wheeled cycle from 1897 and a replica of the bike from “ET the Extra-Terrestrial,” complete with a blanket-wrapped ET doll peering over the edge of the basket. In the front window is something you definitely couldn’t ride — an all-wooden bike made out of sticks. That one was originally made for a customer, local tree trimmer Peter Fallot, by one of his clients.

The Harshes also have the bicycle that belonged to Philip Hart, a much-beloved Morenci resident who died in 2021. That bike hangs on one of the walls as a tribute to Hart’s memory.

Although things slow down a little in the winter, C&W Cycle is open year round. Beginning April 1, the shop hours are Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 6 p.m., Friday from noon to
7 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. From October to March, they
close from Tuesday through Thursday but keep the Friday and Saturday hours. 

Spring is the busiest time of year, as people wanting to hit the road either start looking for new bicycles or pull their bikes out of the garage and realize they need a tuneup. Winter is all about getting ready for spring — although sometimes they will take on a more in-depth repair project, such as if a customer has a beat-up old bike that needs a lot of work, but holds sentimental value.

As C&W Cycle has become more of a regional destination, they have customers for whom a trip to Michigan’s southernmost city is a bit of a hike. But Will Harsh’s message for people who are thinking about a visit is this:

“Come to Morenci. Come check us out. There’s more than just us here.”

C&W Cycle is at 702 North St., Morenci.

For more information, call 517-458-6302 or go to bmxguru.com.