A Premium Shop For Everyone
Owner Michael Crum has Magnolia Cycles rolling in Rogers.
Story And Photography By Kai Caddy
Michael Humphall keeps customer’s bikes riding like new.
How did you get your start in the bike industry?
Magnolia started as a frame building shop when I lived in Memphis. And so, out of high school, I went to UBI (United Bicycle Institute),and learned how to build a frame, took their mechanics courses, their shop maintenance courses, their shop management courses and everything. When I finished, I didn’t really have an opportunity in the industry and I was 19. I ended up deciding to go to art school and wound up at Memphis College of Art and I did a lot of metalsmithing there. I had a customer at the shop I worked for that found out that I could build frames and wanted to help me get started. That was 2006, 2008, somewhere around there. I was building out of my garage at home and the big financial crisis of 2009 happened. So a lot of the people who were interested in buying a bike from me backed off. It was fine. I was still making things go and then just ended up going through some other life changes and everything, and shuttered it for a while.
How did that lead to this shop?
I moved to working for Allied for three years. I worked in the assembly room and then quality control for them. And that last year that I was there (2022), I was opening the new shop. I needed a space to tinker and I was moving in with my now wife and didn’t have a garage to move all my (frame building) stuff into. We ended up finding a space that was much bigger than we needed. And so we decided to jump full force into a bike shop.
What’s led to Magnolia’s success?
Our service focus is definitely a benefit to us. I like to think of it as we’re a premium bike shop for everyone. So no matter what level of cyclist, what type of cyclist you are, then you get the same premium service that anybody gets and deserves. We want to make sure that everybody’s welcome and can find a home here.
The Magnolia team: Michael Humphall, Michael Crum and Alejandra Gonzales Viveros.
“We want everybody to feel welcome, find the right bike, and ride like it’s brand-new every time they hit the trail.“
What are some other things you offer?
We do fit services — several levels of that. We’re very fit focused here. So the process of buying a bike or doing a custom frame starts with a consultation visit. There’s not a lot of bikes on the floor, and that’s the reason that we talk to you. We want to find the right bike for you, the bike that you need, that fits your needs, if we happen to have that in our used selection or whatever, that’s great, but we want to make sure we get what’s the right bike for you. So that starts with a consultation and a fit. We take those measurements, and there’s a charge for that, but you take those measurements with you. So if we don’t find the right bike for you immediately, there’s more research we can do — or you can do, you have that information to take with you. We always want to sell you a bike. But if it doesn’t work out, you have that information. So, If you get that bike, we’re here to help you with a service on it as well. If (direct-to-consumer brand) Canyon’s running a special, and Canyon fits, we’re OK with that. We’re happy to have you ship that bike to us and we’ll assemble it, and make sure it’s all set up for you and apply your fit measurements to it. It’s all about making sure you get the right bike.
What’s your service department like?
We do our best to get repairs back within 48 hours. If we don’t have to order special-order parts for it, most repairs can get done within 48 hours. And sometimes 24. We also have our Magnolia Cycling Club membership program. It’s a service-based membership program that provides you with a certain level of complementary service that comes with it. It’s designed to keep you coming in to make sure your bike is maintained. And rather than once a year, you come in because something’s wrong and then you get this huge bill. It’s fixing those small things along the way and making sure every time you go to ride on the weekend, the bike is like a brand-new bike.
How about the bike wash station?
On the east side of our building, we have a free full bike wash station that’s fully stocked. It’s always on unless the temperature’s below freezing. We stock it with Pelli cleaning products, rags, sponges and brushes.
What’s the bike community like in Rogers?
We learned, and I think our membership kind of speaks to that, is we want people to feel like they belong to the shop and they have a stake in it. Downtown Rogers is growing and we’ve got the Rail Yard and Lake Atalanta. A lot of great folks riding and people lead rides from here. When they get back, they still have time to step over to Ozark Beer and grab a beer before it closes. We definitely are gonna work on some more community events, rides and things in the future. I’m going to be doing a monthly swap meet in the parking lot the third Saturday of every month. Anybody can come set up in the back of the parking lot and just hang out and swap and sell stuff. To have that community and get cyclists from all different types of cycling together and trading and just talking and setting up rides and all of that is great.
What’s your advice for new cyclists?
Find a shop that you have a rapport with and that you like the vibe and the feel and can trust. Just talk to them. They’re here to help. We want to make sure that everybody feels comfortable. When somebody purchases a full-suspension bike, we go through and talk to them about the suspension, how we set it up to begin with and then how they can adjust and make adjustments and what they want to look for out on the trail to get the best out of it. When people come into the shop, we try to find their level and we meet them there and we bring them to whatever level they’re wanting to get to.
What’s your latest project in terms of custom frames?
Hopefully by spring, I’ll have a fleet of demo gravel bikes available.I just finished large, and got the medium and small going. After that, I’ll try to look into an extra large, and maybe an extra small. So, I want to get those on the floor next year and I want to do the same thing with some hard tails. Eventually I want to be able to do a full-suspension model. I’m still figuring out what that’s gonna be. I’m not a suspension designer at all, so I most likely will be buying a rear triangle from someone. I did build a prototype with the Allied BC 40 rear triangle a couple years ago that I still have yet to build up and test. But, that might be an option.
If you have special fit issues, we can accommodate that with a custom build. But even if you don’t, you can just get a custom build because you want a custom build. There’s not always a reason to get a custom bike other than you want a custom bike, and that’s totally legit.
