I picked this up last week from a co-worker, he said its been in his garage for 30 or more years and it rarely got used. The decals say its a Hunter Cherokee.
Its got a dealer sticker from a local Schwinn dealer that's long since gone.
The frame looks a lot like a mid to late 70's Nishiki.
The wheels are Araya 26x1.75 with dimpled spoke holes, the rear derailleur is Shimano Tourney, the front just says Shimano. It has a 5 speed Shimano freewheel.
There's a partial serial number under the bottom bracket but its been drilled through in two places for screws to hold the cable guide on, and the first part of the number isn't stamped well enough to read. The last four digits are all that's legible, '0060'
The crankset is Sugino, the shifters say S.R. Roots, the brake levers and brake arms are Chang Star, the hubs are marked Sealed Ball Bearing and are alloy but painted black. The stem is alloy by SR and painted black as well. The bars are alloy but painted black. The seat post is straight alloy with a steel seat post clamp. The cables, saddle, and grips are branded Avenir. The tires are Cycle Pro and not likely the original.
Its a small frame but with the long seat post it fits me well. There is no tubing decal, so its likely hi ten steel, but there is a Designed and Engineered in the USA for Hunter Cycles Inc. decal down low on the seat tube.

I've been in and around bike shops my whole life and I've never run across this brand before. I at first thought maybe it could be department store bike but its too well put together and other than the Chang Star brakes, everything is name brand.
Was there another brand sold through the Derby brands? It sure looks a lot like a Nishiki Pueblo to me.
Something else I see, is where the paint is scratched in a few spots, there's bright yellow paint under the red, like the factory may have resprayed already painted frames? The Nishiki Pueblo came in yellow in the late 80's too.

Anyone ever run across one of these before?

I found basically nothing on the web, not even a mention or CL ad.
The dealer that sold this was a Schwinn dealer that did mostly higher end bikes. They sold Schwinn, Panasonic, Motobecane, and Cannondale. The guy that had it said he paid good money for it, he seemed to think it was over $300 new so it was in the ball park price wise with a mid range Schwinn or Raleigh.