Hunter Cycles’ show collection was led by two rather unique new creations: A mini folding fat bike for getting around town regardless of the conditions, and a replacement front faceplate for Paul Component stems with an integrated rack. The mini-folder may not shrink down as quickly as a Dahon, but it sits far taller, giving you sort of normal bike aesthetics, and likely just a bit crisper performance.
The rear end unbolts to swing down, and the front rack folds up and locks into place. All of which should create more useful space wherever you decide to store it.
For those seeking more useful space on their bike, he’s come up with a few rack designs that let you bolt one directly to a Paul Component stem. They replace the stem’s standard face plate and can hold up to 20-25 pounds. They get Paul’s official blessing, who says they steel bolts used to hold it onto the stem are more than strong enough to handle the load plus rider forces. The racks range from about $200-250 (maybe more depending on features) and can be had with adjustable sections, extra bottle cage mounts, etc.
Whether using it to stabilize a roll bag or just attach more small things, Hunter says they’re really good for smaller frames where you might not have good options for extra bottle cages on the front triangle.
We’d ridden his all-road gravel bikes before but didn’t realize he offers a single pivot mountain bike also.
He was also showing off this simple red disc brake road bike, which gets the simple and elegant tooled thru axle rear dropouts he’s known for.
The unique fork crown is another signature Hunter touch. Check them out at HunterCycles.com for the full range…he makes stems, handlebars, frame racks and more, too.
Black Cat Cycles
Black Cat Cycles also had a red bike, but theirs went full monster-mountain cross size to create a drop bar bike capable of rolling anything.
Black Cat uses a mix of styles to connect the tubes, from legs to welds to brazes.
This disc brake road bike had a killer todo-style paint scheme…
…but it was this mountain bike that took home the ribbon:
They chose a slacked out trail hardtail to showcase their fillet brazing skills and won Best Fillet Frame for their efforts.
Double tubes and lugs, along with curved and shaped tubes on the back half, helped further set the bike apart. Check them out at BlackCatCycles.com.
