# Cam Zink on yet another bike sponsor?



## csermonet (Feb 2, 2009)

What is wrong with this guy? Just find it odd that he bounces from one dodgy bike sponsor to another every single year. You figure with his results recently be would be on a half way decent bike by now. 

Pinkbike.com/news/Hyper-Bicycles-Signs-Zink.html


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## mtbnozpikr (Sep 1, 2008)

So what does this mean about Evil Bikes? He signed with them about a year ago.


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

Corsair wasn't a bad bike...I always felt they just needed more money to make the company roll...the Zink and Eric Carter they just might get the publicity they need...


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## csermonet (Feb 2, 2009)

If I'm not mistaken they aren't out of business, but are in a precarious position right now. Don't know the specifics as i don't own one or intend to so I haven't been following their situation.


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## mtbnozpikr (Sep 1, 2008)

csermonet said:


> If I'm not mistaken they aren't out of business, but are in a precarious position right now. Don't know the specifics as i don't own one or intend to so I haven't been following their situation.


Are you referring to Evil? I don't have one or plan on it either but I do remember a Pinkbike article about their new Undead carbon dh frame and that all those who had issues with the Revolt were going to get a warranty replacement with the Undead. That was the last I ever heard.


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## danglingmanhood (Sep 16, 2005)

Didn't Moosey by a bike from Cam and say he saw his new Evil Undead hanging in his garage a couple of weeks ago? Hope all goes well with his latest sponsor.


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## mtbnozpikr (Sep 1, 2008)

danglingmanhood said:


> Didn't Moosey by a bike from Cam and say he saw his new Evil Undead hanging in his garage a couple of weeks ago?


Yep


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

Yea it was hanging on his bike wall, where all his built up bikes hang, but he wasn't riding it, he actually took the wheels right off of it and gave them to me. Then again I've known about this for a few weeks so I wasnt surprised.

I'm really excited. If you look back at zinks sponsors:
Felt: they cut him because he had to many injuries. His friends told me that he absolutely loved his compulsion though:
Corsair: didn't offer him too much, just and in-betweener company to keep him in the FMB
Evil: still hasn't made a slopestyle bike. It's like Danny hart signing with a team that dosent have a DH bike. Zink rode and old corsair bike (dominion I think, but I haven't seen it in person).
Hyper: same designs he won on on corsair, including the dominion. EC and Pablo arethere too. Sounds like a solid company with money and good frames. I wouldn't be surprised if zink found his home.

I'm just curious if he'll be riding the konig (not sure if hypers renaming them) out at the jumps, or a hardtail.


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## csermonet (Feb 2, 2009)

Yes I was referring to evil, I thought you were speculating on how they were doing as a business but you must have just been wondering what happened to his sponsorship. I too heard that revolts were being warrantied with undeads. And yes I remember moosey saying that about the undead, but I also saw evil just recently Posted a picture on fbook of a pre production undead so moosey may have been mistaken.

Evil Undead: Pre- Production Photo | Factory Jackson. Online Magazine for Mountain Biking


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

csermonet said:


> Yes I was referring to evil, I thought you were speculating on how they were doing as a business but you must have just been wondering what happened to his sponsorship. I too heard that revolts were being warrantied with undeads. And yes I remember moosey saying that about the undead, but I also saw evil just recently Posted a picture on fbook of a pre production undead so moosey may have been mistaken.
> 
> Evil Undead: Pre- Production Photo | Factory Jackson. Online Magazine for Mountain Biking


Nope, he actually had 2 undeads, the first batch frame, which one of the racers broke, so they beefed it up and sent him the second batch, which he rode until he signed hyper, the first batch frame he didnt break, but he had it hanging on his frame wall. the other one was built up on his rack.

Photo: Cam Zink's New Ride | Factory Jackson. Online Magazine for Mountain Biking

Cam Zink's Evil Undead - 2012 Prototypes and Sneak Peaks - Mountain Biking Pictures - Vital MTB

Heres him holding it on the chatel podium. hes had it since early this year...









and him out testing









thats the bike i saw, except it had red lowers on the fork. Mmm it was beautiful.


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## William42 (Oct 29, 2006)

whats wrong with the guy? are you fycking kidding? nothing is wrong with him, he wants to ride his bike for a living, and happens to be the best FR/SS rider on the planet right now. 

Felt: didn't make a DH bike, gave him sh1t support, and the SS bike he had was an AM bike that didn't have the right geo. Sorry Moosy, but its true. 
Corsair: kicked him some frames, but paid nothing for sponsorship. It was understood that when somebody would actually pay him for winning the biggest FR competitions in the world, he'd go ride for them. 
Evil: revolts got fycked by sh1tty alignment, and were breaking constantly. Would normally have put the business under, but Kevin (owner) really really wants to make it happen, so he's working his ass off on delivering replacement frames from a new manufacturer. However, because his business got so boned, he understandably cut sponsorship dollars until he has bikes and income. 

So now zink is on, hopefully, a brand that will pay him, and supply him with frames/parts. Hope he does as well this year as the last few, and I hope to see him win rampage again.


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

William42 said:


> Felt: didn't make a DH bike, gave him sh1t support, and the SS bike he had was an AM bike that didn't have the right geo. Sorry Moosy, but its true.


 Haha no worries, i agree with ya. I Havent heard his opinion on the redemption (Felts so called DH bike) but that thing is steep.

I also read the post on ridemonkey about how he told corsair he hated felt and their bikes sucked... blah blah blah. I figured it was a bit of an over-reaction and that the Felts werent great, but for the price i had to get the compulsion he was selling, even as a AM bike.

he rode a lower shock on it, so now its about a 67 HA instead of the normal 69, and the bb is extra low, so it feels great, i still figured it wasnt his favorite bike though.

I was riding out at his local spot, and was talking to Jim the Hacksaw (if you guys know him). He and Zink are great friends. I was super suprised when Jim was going "WOW! Is that Zink's old compulsion! Man he loved that thing!" And he then told me stories of all the fun/funny stuff zink did on his compulsion.

Turns out he absolutely loved it, and to quote Jim "*He'd still be riding it if they didn't screw him like that*."

apparently Felt wasnt good to zink at all, and when they quit sponsoring him, they were very rude. They just kinda said "hey, you're injured too much, you're done." and cut all ties. thats why e was bitter.

I don't care if Zink liked his bike or not, i love my compulsion. But it surprised me when some of the people that know him best and ride with him on a daily basis told me that he loved his compulsion.


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## siyross (May 19, 2009)

What is wrong with changing sponsors each year?


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## ronnyg801 (Oct 4, 2008)

If they really have a problem with a FR/SS guy being injured they might want to look into making road bikes or beach cruisers, I understand they would rather him not be hurt but the level of risk in the sport is crazy!

I have friends who are very high level BMX guys, they have the main sponsors backing them no matter what, I would think a guy like Zink could find this too, maybe the two niches of the industry are different though.

Hopefully Hyper can offer the support he needs to keep pushing


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## csermonet (Feb 2, 2009)

Yea not really sure if it's a bad thing switching sponsors every year as I'm not a pro, it's probably nice getting to ride a new bike often. Keeping things fresh and not getting bored. Just figured with his skill caliber and results that he would have a steady frame sponsor and/or bigger name brand doing so. Although its definitely not holding him back, Hopefully hyper will give him the support he deserves


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## his dudeness (May 9, 2007)

The hard part is that a lot of these "freeride" bikes have transitioned into "slopestyle" bikes and now "slopestyle" isn't quite getting as much hype as it used to outside of Crankworx and a couple other small comps. 

I'm not saying that slopestyle is dying, just saying that it blew up in popularity before it really had much of a well defined niche and then has slowly been put aside by companies that are now wanting to focus a lot of their efforts on the DH racing scene which is now bigger than it's ever been. Major companies might still make slopestyle bikes but they're certainly not making quite as many as they used to because people now are wanting a full fledged dh bike to take to a ski resort because Gwin/Atherton/Hill/ name your guy rides one and a bike company can capitalize massively on that and make a ton of cash. If these huge top pro racers are riding on 8 inch travel frames/forks the "cool" factor of a 7 inch bike with a single crown and steeper geo's is just slowly dwindling. Now many smaller companies are still making these types of bikes (enter Hyper, corsair, transition, etc.) but their amount of funding for these athletes is going to be fairly minor aside from frames and a few bucks for videos and comp wins. 

And here's Zink. Super talented guy. But for whatever reason hasn't been picked up by a major manufacturer and with that he hasn't picked up a big paycheck. Brands that he's ridden for either didn't make the proper product or they made a product that failed so he's needed to move on to the next brand. While, yes, the kid has gobs of talent he's just gotten a bit of the short end of the stick with the companies that have signed him. Hopefully Hyper ends up making a solid and reliable product that performs as promised. Hopefully in a few years Hyper will have gained more of a name for themselves outside of the bmx circle, and with that hopefully Zink can have a consistent paycheck and a consistent sponsor.


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

Cam Zink did actually get some other offers from bigger companies, i only know one name, but i heard of other offers. It seems to me that he prefers the smaller company scene because he wants to influence the company and grow with it. Im glad he choose Hyper. I think he will do great on it.

Sensus Says: "Cam has finally got the Frame deal he deserves. After years of switching between companies due to the downturn on MTB, and injuries, Cam is back on top with a great company to grow with."

Now i just wish all the idiots would get past the fact that hyper makes Walmart bikes too and realize Cam will be riding top notch bikes.


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## chup29 (Nov 28, 2006)

He's been on TLD for ages too... In my world thats a pretty big sponsor - i would kill to have a pallet of d3s show up at my house for me to crash with...

Like Moosey said, i think he just needed to find the right company and i think he's gonna do great, hyper is signing a ton of great R/D riders like EC and so on... Could prove to be an incredibly successful venture for all parties - but im still not giving up my m9 for a hyper


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## csermonet (Feb 2, 2009)

Tld is a major sponsor, ever since I was a little kid racing pw50's my dream was to have my own custom painted tld helmet. I imagine he will be with them for the long haul


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

csermonet said:


> my dream was to have my own custom painted tld helmet.


Isn't that everyone's dream?


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## csermonet (Feb 2, 2009)

Tld=the sickness


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## Mo(n)arch (Dec 21, 2009)

Mike Spinner (BMX) is also signed to Hyper. Looks like they've got some decent resources to me...


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## arkon11 (Jul 26, 2009)

Moosey, how do you know Zink?


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## Moosey (May 18, 2010)

arkon11 said:


> Moosey, how do you know Zink?


He lives an hour from me, i was browsing reno classifieds and saw someone selling a Felt Compulsion with Mavic and rockshox build, listed as "slopestyle" so i shot him an email, we talked a bit. So fastforward I now have bought 2 bikes from him. Killer deals.

I met a different guy on pinkbike who wanted me to hit some jumps with him at a secret spot. I met the guy, we talked, he felt comfortable showing me the jumps, turns out its Paul Bas and Zinks local spot. Damn those guys go big. Cam's dog goes pretty big too. He cleared some nice doubles.

I've only ridden (dug) with Zink once, and Bas once, but i've only been to the spot twice so far. I've been to cams house to look at frames, buy frames, and get parts a few times.

The guy that showed me the jumps chats with Zink a lot, most of the guys out there are buds with Zink, so thats how i found out about his new frame deal early, they were all talking about it about a month ago.


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## sambs827 (Dec 8, 2008)

Moosey said:


> He lives an hour from me, i was browsing reno classifieds and saw someone selling a Felt Compulsion with Mavic and rockshox build, listed as "slopestyle" so i shot him an email, we talked a bit. So fastforward I now have bought 2 bikes from him. Killer deals.
> 
> I met a different guy on pinkbike who wanted me to hit some jumps with him at a secret spot. I met the guy, we talked, he felt comfortable showing me the jumps, turns out its Paul Bas and Zinks local spot. Damn those guys go big. Cam's dog goes pretty big too. He cleared some nice doubles.
> 
> ...


One of the many reasons I love mountain biking. So cool to be able to interact with the sport's top competitors. None of them living around here that I know of, but I'm just an hour from Windham, so I got to stand around and shoot the **** with Peaty, Minaar, and CG (not to mention plenty of others) at the World Cup last summer.

And as far as Zink goes, who cares if he keeps switching sponsors? The sport evolves and the riders need to evolve as well if they're going to continue to make a living.


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