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.

Never heard of the brand, but the frame and components make me think '85-87ish.

Dixon's (Schwinn) in Athens GA sold me a Hunter 5sp cruiser in the mid 80's. They had a whole range of such bikes and I think were from California. Not to be confused with the famous frame builder of beautiful steel mountain bike frames, I think David Hunter.

I briefly owned one I bought used in Macon, Georgia c.1990 - mine had forged ends with integral dropouts and a 7-speed rear block and seemed to me to be a reasonably nice, reasonably light bike, but I wound up trading it back to the shop I got it from to buy a Bianchi Volpe I still regret selling.

Never heard of it I agree ‘85-87ish is a better age range.

Bottom end based on crankset and claw RD hanger. A dealer that sold Schwinn, Raleigh, Motobecane, et al, during the day had plenty of low end stuff in those product lines.

Doubtful it was over $300 back then.

Lots of private label stuff during that era that you won't find information on the web.

Lower end or not, it can be a nice ride. But its not high end. So apparently, the dealer did more than top of the line bikes.

One thing I do remember is that I bought a brand new Schwinn High Sierra in 1988 in black chrome from that same dealer, they closed up soon after. I had priced various brands around that time, the company I worked for gave us each $650 to spend on a new bike because the owner was big into doing charity event rides and anyone who wanted to be part of it got a new bike that year. We had to go to one of 4 dealers in the area, so our choices were limited to Schwinn, Cannondale, Motobecane, Peugeot, Raleigh, Nishiki, Ross, or Giant.
We had to go to one of the dealers he had on his list, then pick out a bike and get fitted for it, then bring the invoice back to the office and they called and paid for the bike, and we got to pick it up the next day.
(There was no buying a lesser bike and pocketing the difference). We were allowed to buy a better bike but anything over $650 was on us.
I went with the Schwinn High Sierra because it fit me best and it was a good deal lighter than the similarly priced Raleigh Elkhorn with steel wheels. The Cannondale was aluminum and double the cost. the Schwinn was $629.78 out the door complete with a blackburn rack, twin water bottles, and a second set of Panaracer tires because I didn't care for the original tires.
I don't remember them having anything called Hunter on the floor then. But I do remember looking at various Nishiki bikes, which were a lot cheaper but the dealer selling those couldn't find one in my size other than the bottom of the line Pueblo. The 1988/89, (not sure which it was), Pueblo had the same cranks and derailleurs as this Hunter. A buddy of mine bought one around that time for his wife, after he bought a Panasonic ATB from the same dealer I bought the Schwinn from. The Panasonic was more money and he had to pay the difference.
I actually liked the Panasonic better due to the geometry of the frame but I didn't want to fork over the extra $90 or so it would have taken.

I no longer have the High Sierra, it was an OK bike but I never really was happy with it, then the black chrome started to peel and I sold it.
I later bought my buddies Panasonic ATB, which I still have and will likely die with.
But honestly, I think this cheap Hunter rides better, at least on the road. Its lighter than my Panasonic, and likely lighter than the High Sierra I had due to the smaller frame. The tiny frame on the Hunter makes for a very easy to maneuver bike compared to the large frame ATB which feels like a tank under me. A lot of it is perception due to overall length vs. actual weight.
The high pressure street tires on the Hunter help a lot too as the ATB still has old school original Panaracer Knobbies on it.

The fact that the Hunter is low end doesn't bother me, some of my favorite bikes are low end models. So long as its clean and well maintained, the difference of a few pounds really don't matter much to a guy over 6ft2 and 350lbs. At my age I just don't ride like I used to and I suppose the day will come when my knees put an end to my riding altogether.

It looks like a house brand. And decals look Schwinnish so that makes sense. I don't know if $300 was unreal for a shop bike. High end bikes were into the thousands by 80'. And MTBs we're still newer hot items so maybe they required a premium.

I remember that brand only slightly, I think it may have been a way for Nishiki (Derby), to put competing bikes in shops too close to their other dealers selling Nishiki, Raleigh, or Univega. They showed up for a few years in the mid to late 80's and were gone by 90's.

The rear brake bridge makes me think Nishiki Pueblo, Blazer, or Colorado but the way the seat stays attach looks different though.
Most of the Nishiki mtb's all had their seat stays butted up against the back of the seat post tube, sort of converging into the frame not brazed on the sides like that one, but they did do that on their road frames.
Nishiki also did have many manufacturers over the years so it can be really hard to tell who built any particular frame, especially without a full serial number.

A few Hunter road bicycles have surfaced on the forums. They were late 1980s, mid-range, Japanese manufactured models and had a serial number format that was consistent with Yamaguchi, though it may also have been used by some other Y-companies.

Hunter Cycles was a Jacksonville Florida company. The address that I have for them is currently a strip plaza, so I had thought it was a private label brand for an LBS, though post #3 would indicate an actual bicycle marketing and distributing company who contracted out design and manufacture.

The subject bicycle is an entry level level city bicycle. The Avenir saddle, if OEM, suggests a tie to Western States Import who marketed this style under the DiamondBack brand. It would also make it no older than very late 1980s. Regardless, the Unicrown fork and what appears to be TIG construction would suggest no earlier than about 1986. There should be plenty of component date codes to determine the actual age.

The level and era suggest Taiwanese manufacture. Assuming a WSI design and contractor source, the most likely manufacturers would be Fairly or China Bicycle Company.