Text by Shinya Tanaka Photo by Rie Sawada
I’ve said I’m not gay, but I do fall for people.
Falling for a person isn't a bad thing.
This is a story about the fact that such a person “exists” there.
It’s a road I’ve traveled many times.
A road I will continue to travel.
I head south on the highway from SFO, go through the winding turns, and once again arrive at Route 1.
And this view always gets me high.
The ocean, the sky, and the green.
Hunter Cycles
This Route 1, which continues from Northern California, is a magnificent road with scenery that any cyclist living in Oregon or California is bound to pass through at least once.
Many state highways in America often have “Bike Route” signs like the one in the photo above so that they can be traveled by bicycle.
Enduring ups and downs of varying sizes, many tourers aim for the distant Monterey or perhaps Santa Barbara.
Ignoring them, I head for the usual mountain road.
It is Bonny Doon Road, which has often been a stage for the Tour of California.
And I turn the handlebars to the left.
As usual, there’s no one there.
Wait, Woody was there.
But since I’ve learned how things work here, I can just go about my business and wait for him to come home.
Taking photos...
Checking how far along things are...
Speculating on what project this might be...
Examining everything............ I just have to wait for his return.
Rick Hunter doesn't talk much.
He’s the type who discerns what is necessary and what isn’t, checks things one last time, and only then finally speaks.
When I consider how much that has influenced me, his presence feels as massive as his physical stature, and I can't help but be in awe.
Yes, he is incredibly big.
Yet, his welding beads are so simple, so clean, crying out that he is focused on not doing anything superfluous.
That’s right, the bikes he makes are wonderful.
By what criteria do people judge something as good? I don’t know what other people’s standards are, but I have fallen for him and the things he makes.
Clearly and definitively. I realized I liked them.
Seeing them, riding them, getting blown away, and realizing that for me, this is the final answer—the "this is how it should be"—for a bicycle. They became my standard for everything, and I left the center position of my heart to him.
If you have even a little bit of playfulness bubbling up from your own intentions and ideas about how you can play on a bike or how you want to use it, I am sure his playfulness—and his desire to see others play—will truly understand you and bring that to life.
(Perhaps the increase in such people is the start of people truly understanding why Hunter and other frame builders are still needed and why they can continue to make frames today.)
And there is nothing difficult about bicycles. The desire to play, to ride, to move forward under your own power—it is complete nonsense to say that any of those feelings are invalid because you are a beginner, a child, a woman, or a professional, I think. Watching them, I am always reminded that having fun is what truly matters.
Let me tell you the good thing about the steel he uses.
It boils down to the fact that it is “easy to build with.”
Being able to offer “something tailored to the person” using accessible materials at a reasonable price—that is the wonderful charm of steel as I see it, and a fact that will never disappear. That also leads to it being “easy to take responsibility for” (also known as being easy to repair).
I think there is also the merit that it is “easy to build” new human relationships within that responsibility.
(Cities with many good builders and good cycling people almost always have a large and wonderful bike community.)
I hope that, based on such examples, our future creativity will become even more refined, and that more and more new people will emerge. And I am certain that the world those new people will build for themselves will be nothing short of wonderful.
Sometimes, we call that culture.
Rick and I have been talking about such trivial things all this time. But that is the main reason I come here.
Hunter Cycles
( http://www.huntercycles.com/)
Hunter Cycles, created by Rick Hunter, are designed and manufactured based on the experience of a man who has ridden the lands of California to the fullest. Without being bound by so-called categories like genre or bike type, he explores his own sensations and those of the rider to create the very best. From the moment you hop on a Hunter, your life as a cyclist will undoubtedly change for the real.
– Product samples [View the HunterCycles set on Flickr].
