Bike Route celebrates 50 years

David Hunt is celebrating 50 years of service to Idyllwild’s biking community at his Bike Route shop on Pine Crest Avenue. The Crier visited him there recently to hear his part of the saga and that of his family.

TC: How did all this start?

DH: It started in eighth grade at Idyllwild Elementary School. Doris Lombard was my teacher … We had class periods she called “challenge periods.” You could do anything, as long as you were learning something. I took a bike apart and put it back together.

That same year my dad got an old cabin from Idyllwild Pines, a little bunk house next to the house I grew up in. 1973 is when we opened the shop up there. In ’83, Dad added on to the family house. The present shop used to be our garage. I ran it while I was going to school. My dad was the fire chief, Bud Hunt. He retired, I think, in ’85, after 30 years in the fire department. He expanded the garage into the current bike shop. I became a high school teacher while he ran the shop. After 27 years of teaching, he and I ran the shop together.

TC: You and your dad got along pretty well?

DH: Wonderful. It was really nice being able to work together until he passed away last year. (At 92, February 2022.) We were on the forefront of the mountain bike craze, starting in 1978.

TC: Dad was a bike enthusiast?

DH: Yes.

Hunt took me behind the counter, where dozens of Bud’s race numbers hang on the wall, and pointed out his medals in front.. “He raced the ‘Masters’ category (an age group) and participated in the Fireman’s Olympics.”

TC: You built bikes, too?

DH: I became a custom frame builder. Idyllwild Framesets was the business. I made about 50 custom frame sets. We have a mountain bike museum; everything we did around ’77 to ’88. Examples from each year. A lot of BMX when we first opened up.

TC: You do welding?

DH: And brazing. I have a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Arts from Humboldt State, emphasis in metals. I got to be trained by three of the most famous frame builders in the U.S. One was Albert Eisentraut in Oakland, Brian Bayliss in San Marcos … Gary Helfrich. He taught me titanium welding in Oregon.

TC: Titanium? It’s light and strong, right?

DH: All of my bikes were steel or titanium. They both have a “lively” feel. Carbon fiber and aluminum have a “dead” feeling.

TC: Did you began your studies in pursuit of being a bike designer?

DH: I was a forestry major originally, growing up in Idyllwild. Most of the forestry majors were lumberjack tree cutters. I decided I didn’t want to do that. I took a year off, and Don Neal, from the Strawberry Bicycle Shop in Hemet, suggested industrial arts.

TC: You worked with the frame makers as an apprentice?

DH: Only a couple weeks each, but it was apprentice-like training.

TC: Was it your dad that got you interested in bikes?

DH: I got him started on bikes, actually. I like to say that he inherited it from me.

TC: You must make a lot of friends here at the shop.

DH: It was so fun watching my dad visit with people. People would come by just to visit, not even bring their bike in for repairs, just visit with Bud. He had a lot of stories. Mom was born and raised up here, he came up around ’54. We called them the oracles; if you ever had a question about Idyllwild, you’d ask them.

TC: Your folk both passed away last year?

DH: Mom passed away a few months after Dad. Both at home, with family around. The way to go.

Hunt also mentioned his time in Kinetic Sculpture Racing. These are wild contraptions recalling monsters, school buses, the yellow submarine or a carnival side show that are judged on artistic value as well as speed.

DH: While at Humboldt State, I built kinetic sculptures for the World Champion Kinetic Sculpture race, a human-powered, three-day, all-terrain race.

TC: All terrain?

DH: Water, sand, asphalt, mud. Multi-person vehicles … five-person one year, four once, one year as an individual. The last year, wife Kris, and Mom and Dad, and my aunt and uncle were my pit crew. They won the award for best pit crew.

While visiting Dave in the shop, folk stopped by with and without their bikes.

A deaf couple stopped in. They came to town to get Hunt’s help restoring an old Schwinn. She bought it brand-new in 1960 in Hemet. A member of the Sexy Generians racing team stopped by. The team used to participate in the “24 Hours of Adrenalin” race that was staged at various locations in North America, including a local course through Garner Valley, from Hurkey Creek to Thomas Mountain. Relay teams competed to see who could complete the most circuits of the circa 10-mile loop, how far can you go in 24 hours. At the Bike Route, they find everything from complete restoration to advice on changing a tire. They usually find what they need. “We try to keep one of everything,” and Hunt is “faster than Ebay.”

The crowded shop shades into collection territory. “We like to ride our Schwinn tandems in the 4th of July parade, so see you there. We have about 10 tandems, we like to find couples that can join us.” Hunt only sells used bikes now, and recycles what he can’t repair. “People trade them in or just give them to me. I can’t throw them away, I don’t have it in me. My dad didn’t like to throw things away either. We used to take bikes to an orphanage in Mexico. We need a new charity. To a lot of people in the world, a bike is like a car is here … “

TC: Essential transport?

DH: Yes.

Having completed 50 years at the Bike Route, Hunt is “planning 50 more.” The Bike Route is at 54095 Pine Crest Avenue. These days he is there from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday.