Tilt Transport : Midwest

Posted by Christopher Martin on

Photography by: Jordan Jasa, Dylan Kasson, Tyler Wheeland, Collin Snoek, Issac Miller, Jona Humbel, Tom Kvilhaug & Josh Smukal. Copywriting by: Jordan Jasa & Chris Martin.
Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest

It was early July when the crew assembled for the first leg of the bus trip. A few left from Grand Rapids while the others were set to fly into Nashville. After a wild July 4th night, Jona and Jordan joined Tyler, Issac, Tom, Dylan, and Josh while Collin caught a flight back to the warehouse. The start was marked by rain, but the boys went straight into filming as soon as they could. Jona started things off with a quick trick over a 2 flat 2 into a hill bomb, as a few locals held up traffic in exchange for a couple tall cans. Showing us around was Tristan Miller and Benton Oberholtzer. After the sun went down we headed back to Jessies place, a homie Tyler knew from his motorcycle travels. Big shoutout to her for the hospitality!

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Thursday and Friday consisted of doing our best to ride and film despite the hellish temperatures and humidity. On the whole it was pretty productive- despite getting the kickout on a few spots, we all managed to land some tricks. One highlight was Issac sending it on this crazy waterfall/rainbow rail- he got bucked off his first attempt, in what looked like a KO-style crash, but after running it out he came back and landed it 2nd try. Big sheesh.

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We only had 1 Vx to film with, so Christian was supposed to overnight another on Wednesday so it would arrive Thursday. But, as our luck would have it, it did not arrive. Nor did it arrive Friday, or Saturday. As luck would have it again, the VX we were using decided to break on Friday. After a long afternoon deciding what to do (including a very serious inquiry into rigging up some ghetto screen, as it was the ribbon cable for the viewfinder that was torn, which meant we wouldn't be able to see what we were filming.) we decided to spend one more night in Nashville and send it to our next stop, St Louis the next day.

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Since we didn't have a working camera, Tristan showed us the local swimming hole where the boys got some relief from the scorching sun. This was supposed to be a rope swing with a beach area, but the creek had risen and eroded quite a lot of the banks. So while it was a bit precarious, you already know Dylan was gonna set up his camera in the water to get a shot of the boys hitting the rope swing. Have to mention Smukal as well, carrying his camera setup in hand while wading through waist high water to get to the spot. Risky business.

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So, with confirmation that we wouldn't be getting the new VX, it was decided that Jessi would send it to Denver when it arrived at her place. We started driving to St Louis, stopping a truck stop for the night and making the rest of the drive in the morning. Our first stop was to ride a newer skatepark while Dylan attempted to fix the VX. Neither of these were accomplished, as the skater who apparently built the park was there and immediately told us scooters weren't allowed. Since it was like 100 degrees, we weren't too bummed and Issac and Jona had a board to shred on anyway. Dylan also confirmed it was our ribbon cable that was torn, so fixing it without a new cable was out of the question. 

Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest

We had a scheduled ride day at Ramp Riders indoor park, and rolled up without knowing what to expect. Quite a nice sized group of kids were already there, rushing out as soon as they saw the bus, ready to get some signatures and photos. It's always awesome to see the kids hyped! So we threw some helmets on and Tyler immediately ate shit trying a curved wallride. Smukal filmed a few clips of everyone and we sweated out 10 gallons of water each. After a few more group photos and signing some kids vape, we packed it back up to ride spots. We rode a school Tom and Jordan had been to 4 years ago, and in that time it had been shut down and become even crustier. Since we weren’t using a VX, Smukal got some HD clips of everyone to use in the documentary he was shooting. After a while there, a guy came out and kicked us out. There was a construction crew there, apparently turning it into condos. He said he owned the place, but was super cool about it.

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The thing about the VX issue was that while we couldn't see what we were filming, if you know how to set it up properly it’s not actually necessary to look into the viewfinder. Since we had no other option, besides for HD clips, this is what we did. We could only film fisheye though, since we wouldn’t know how to frame a long lens shot or be able to zoom. We spent a couple days in St Louis filming this way, and as it later turned out, the clips were usable! It reminded us of shooting photos with film cameras, how you don’t get to see what the shot looks like until it’s developed.

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We asked on Instagram if anyone would be able to let us park the bus at their house and use their shower in STL, and Sam Fischer came through so clutch, opening up his home for us all to stay. Fidget spinner tricks, Xbox, doggos, and good vibes were all a part of Hotel Fischer. One afternoon after riding, Sam took us to a strange little subdivision/community that had a manmade lake we could swim in. It looked like a huge movie set, and it ended up being an awesome way to end the day. We swam, TomK cooked up an awesome pasta meal, Josh got some good shots for the doc, and we headed back to Sam’s for the night. Thanks again for the hookup Psycho!

Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest Tilt Transport Tour : Midwest

The last night of leg 1 consisted of driving to Kansas City, where Jona and Jordan would be dropped off the following morning to the airport. We parked at a trusty Walmart parking lot, setting up right next to another reno’d bus (bus brothers!) with some crazy buffalo skull attached to the front of it. Josh did a couple interviews with Jona and Jordan for the doc, and we proceeded to stay up way too late and make too much noise. Woops. So we woke up, dropped the boys off at the airport, then made the drive to Denver for Leg 2.

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Bus Build

Posted by Christopher Martin on

Photography by: Chris Martin, Collin Snoek, Michael Spizzirri & Christian Dean. Copywriting by: Chris Martin, Collin Snoek, Michael Spizzirri & Christian Dean.

The bus build didn’t start with us planning on buying a bus, nor a vehicle of any sort. It actually started with us trying to build a bowl for the warehouse. We already started 3D renderings of what it would look like but after long weekends camping, plans changed. Collin realized we shouldn’t spend money on a bowl where we would only have a few people riding it from time to time and instead we should build something that brought the scooter community tighter. A vehicle that could hold some dudes and put in some long miles.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Our first couple of options were smaller vehicles and frames. After plenty of back and forth we settled on class C busses. Plenty of research went into just choosing which vehicle to buy, and plenty more needed to be learned on the fly. This could be our biggest mistake or success that we have ever been a part of. We did not know exactly what we were getting ourselves into, but we had to work fast.

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After the first couple weeks of owning the bus, getting it looked over by mechanics, and replacing some suspension issues we realized how heavy duty this thing was. You can’t just take a bus to a jiffy lube, you have to service it at the same place semi trucks get serviced at. Most of our tools weren’t spec’d to work on a bus so we had to buy the right tools which aren’t cheap. We learned this by breaking a few wrenches and drills bits. Once Collin realized how doomed we were, he called for backup, Chris and Mike were scheduled to come up in a couple of weeks but the help was needed now. Chris showed up that weekend with the bus pretty much fully intact.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

First steps were to demo the bus. Christian already had a jump start on the exterior but the inside was the main focus for now. Pulling windows out, trying to pop rivets, exposing the interior, removing doors, pitching insulation and cutting/labeling wires. We knew one extra body wasn’t going to do it all so we nailed down an extra hand by the name of Stevie, a local skater. We also brought on William from Anvil Goods, a talented carpenter. Things started to pick up with every day feeling like two days. Lines blurring between running a scooter company and Snoek’s Custom Chop Shop. Each day ended with “Wow, we have a lot more to do but damn, we did a lot today.”

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When arriving to the shop on a bright and early morning, you would have absolutely no idea what time you'd be leaving that day. This caused everyday to feel like one big blur. "Wait, that was today? I thought that was yesterday..." was a common saying during the long days of building. Removing the ceiling was easier said than done, just like everything else on the bus. Since it was a Blue Bird bus, that meant quality and a bunch of rivets instead of bolts. The entire ceiling was held together by hundreds of rivets that needed to be punched and grinded off. After a couple of days of going to town, the ceiling and insulation was ready to come out of the bus.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

In order to hit our deadline we were forced to see into the future. Mocking up the interior and buying new products for the bus were just some of the steps we were taking to try to stay on track. We purchased the new RV door from an RV parts dealer in south Michigan. The cabinet and batteries came from Sam’s Club.

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Collin was the only one that had a grasp on the wiring but he was so busy being project manager along with everything else that he called his buddy Jordan to lend a hand. Jordan helped strip the bus from any unnecessary wiring and cleaned up the harnesses. We would of been screwed without him.

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Some of the bus had seen better days and had rust build up on the exterior. We went around with a cut-off wheel attached to a die grinder to shred away any of the rust. We then hit the metal with abrasive stone point attachments along with 120 grit sanding bands. After that, we would wet sand the paint to blend into the bare metal. It was a process but the outcome was flawless and unnoticeable after the final coat of paint was on the bus.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Mike stepped in twice during the build since he was pretty much the only one running TILT while the rest of us tried to focus on the bus. The first time he left Chicago to come to GR was to help wet sand the exterior to get it ready for prime. Since Mike has a very keen eye to detail, most of the bus was done by hand. A very long, grueling process that no one should take on themselves. While some of the focus was on the exterior, there was still work being done on the interior. The ceiling was coming out, more wires being cut and stripped, and the floor…oh man the floor! One of the hardest tasks we weren’t expecting that everyone helped out on but was mainly tackled by Stevie and Christian. The floor was coated with vinyl, plywood and then steel. There were rows of aluminum rails that held the old bench seats. These rails were held in with hardened steel bolts. The head of each bolt had over a decade of gunk around all of them. If you were lucky enough to get to where you put the drill bit in the head to unbolt these, you would strip the head. Cutting the bolt from underneath wasn’t an option because there was too much in the way. Since the heads were hardened steel, breaking the heads off with a drill wasn’t an option either. Our only real option was to cut each bolt from underneath the rail but above the steel floor. That meant using a circular saw that would cut perfectly down past the depth of the wood but not cut the metal floor. Then you take a pry bar and rip up all the plywood around the rails. Then you take a pry bar to hammer out all the wood in-between the rails and metal floor. Then you take a pry bar and wedge it in-between the rail and floor so you can fit a sawzall in there to cut the hardened steel bolts. This wasn’t like you turn on a saw and it does all the work, You had to saw back and forth while changing the angles to get the job done. It felt like you were trying to hold on to a vibrating handle that was trying to jerk your shoulder out of its socket. We were lucky if we got one rail done in 3 hours. There were 8 of them, spanning two-thirds of the bus. This was our hell!

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Looking back on it, it was funny that even though I wasn’t working on the bus, I felt stressed all the way over here in Chicago. It was probably due to the tasks needed to get done, lack of communication due to the bus work, and that I had just moved into my apartment. – Mike Spizzirri

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Once we had the floor exposed, we noticed the drivers side floor was pretty rusted and weak. We were afraid of the rust continuing and having a case of a Flintstones episode on our hands. Once we started cutting into the floor to replace the metal we found out it was welded and supported by the subframe which meant things got a lot harder. This was our first “in over our heads” feeling since we bought the bus. As we got further and further into the bus work, these feelings came up more and more frequently. Collin lost a lot of hope in that 2-3 hours of tearing the rusted floor out. Eventually it came out and a new piece got welded in. The floor was looking brand new!

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Since we weren’t just building for this years bus trip, we had to make time for our future trips which could involve being somewhere that doesn’t have clean water. Collin laid out two compartments that forced us to cut two holes in the floor. The holes then received walls and a base to create two boxes for grey water tanks. Braydon, the local DIY builder, lended his aerospace welding skills. He helped on multiple tasks with the bus like the side exhaust and toolbox. As long as the beers were flowing, the welds were stacking.

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While things were happening on the outside, William was making things happen on the inside. We had a deadline for insulating the bus so he was working quick. The entire inside was gridded out and framed.

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More wiring was taking place. Now that most things were stripped away, it was time to lengthen wires, run new wires and repair anything that needed repaired. It took Chris a little bit to wrap his head around things but it reminded him of all his legos he use to build back in the day. One wire at a time is the same as one block at a time.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Collin started on the interior electrical supply since we wanted lighting, outlets to charge batteries, and a fridge. He welded a battery cage, painted it and then laid out switches and connectors to keep everything neat and safe. This would later go underneath the bench on the passengers side of the bus.

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Since we tore out all the original windows because they were poorly insulated, we now needed to make a new way to hold the windows we bought online. Luckily the bus had a bunch of vertical support beams that we cleaned up with a die grinder. We then used sheet metal, 1 inch angular tubes, rivets and Collins welding skills to get the job done. Once the sheet metal was secured with rivets, we held up the new windows were we wanted them so we could draw an outline so we knew where to cut. We drilled holes and used a jigsaw to trace the line and ended up going through four blades trying to cut out all of the windows. It was ridiculous.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

I basically moved up to Grand Rapids for a month and a half living at either Collin or Dante’s house depending on the week. It was sweet because I always wanted to live in GR for a couple of months because it was like a smaller Columbus and I have friends up there. The only thing that sucked about that is the bus took 90% of my attention, even my dreams weren’t safe. Eye twitch, you bet ya. My muscles were so sore that I was used to it and I started noticing how sore my bones were. Countless cuts, scrapes and bruises. I hit my head once a day and at most seven times in one day. I had an old sentry bar that was cut at the weld that I would use to beat up wood pallets with to get my frustration out. – Chris Martin

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Some days, you'd walk into the warehouse with what seemed like a never-ending list of things to do. Yet, somehow you'd manage to check almost every single one off of the list. Those were good days. Other days, you'd have a list consisting of one or two tasks. You think "Oh, today should be easy. There's only a couple things on the list." Come to find out, that one thing ends up taking almost 7 hours to finish. Those were the days we'd end up working until midnight, just to wake up at 7am the next morning and start all over again. In conclusion, there was no "easy" day working on the bus. Every day was a struggle, but damn was it worth it. – Christian Dean

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Most of the bus was wet sanded but for good measure, we did another round to make sure all rust was gone while making sure the paint would be smooth and ready for priming. This also was like a hand wash for the bus so we weren’t trapping any dust/dirt in with the paint.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Here is where the fun really starts, The insulation phase. The insulation was sprayed onto the bus using an air compressor. The fumes were toxic so most of the team took the day off from the bus to catch up on other TILT related tasks. Since the insulation expands, William was in there trimming away so we didn’t loose sight of our grid we laid out. The foam cured for some time and turned into a solid. The insulation was laid on thick so we had to trim it down. William, Joe and Chris were selected as the three lucky candidates to tackle this. The first couple of hours, people weren’t wearing the right eye protection and the fibers would get in their eyes. This was a serious issue that made this task extremely daunting. Once we had snowboarding goggles and scientific goggles we were ready to rip. The trick was to use angle grinders with wire brush attachments. This would cut right through the foam and make things flush. It also chopped it up into a million tiny pieces that got everywhere. If you were in the bus during this, you would think it was a winter blizzard. Snow was flying every which way, it was almost magical if it didn’t keep getting in our eyes and sticking to our sweat.

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Every time we wanted to go to the bathroom or get thirsty or not wear sweaty goggles and mask, we had to go outside with the air compressor and blow away all the insulation off of us. It took maybe 5 minutes to get semi-clean but man did it feel great to be “clean”. Once we were done with our break, it was back into the bus to get dirty again.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

We had no idea how gnarly the insulation was going to be so it set us back a couple of days. We filled up three to five giant bags of insulation that we shaved off the walls and floor. On top of that, we needed to vacuum up the rest that was all over the floor outside of the bus to prep for painting. Somehow we lost the filter to the shop vac so we used a glove to keep things moving.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Things started moving really fast. Sub-floor was installed. The bench was constructed and ready for paint and cushions. The color of the bus was starting to change from yellow to grey. Originally we were going to prime with a spray gun but that was going to add a whole day to our timeline so we rattle can primed the bus. We underestimated how many cans this would take so we ran to home-depot four different times in one day. The total count was somewhere around thirty-six cans of primer.

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Joe was originally a painter before he got hired on at TILT so we had him pretty much prime the whole bus. It took all day because we kept running out of primer. By the end of the day, he was high from the fumes and couldn’t feel his spray finger. It might as well of been missing, that’s how numb it was. The outcome was a pretty well balanced base that we ended up wet sanding multiple times.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Last year we took a van with no AC up to Toronto and there was no way we were going to do that again. We bought two window AC units that would fit in the bus but we needed to make vents for it to breathe. Holes were cut out of the rear and front tops of the bus. Fancy vent covers were put on and boxes were made to house the AC units. We turned one unit on while we were working on the bus and it felt amazing. That was the only time AC was on in the bus. The boxes were too tight and would suffocate the units and force them to over heat so they never made it on the bus. The bus later cruised through 106 degrees Fahrenheit. For some reason, TILT keeps going on trips where the heat waves are hitting. Last year was the midwest, This year, the west coast.

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After a long day of work, Collin and Chris stayed at the warehouse till 1am to build the support for the table. We kept thinking of the right way to do this and Collin’s final answer was to hang it from the ceiling so there weren’t any leg supports to get in the way. We didn’t exactly think about how the bus vibrates when it is moving and will make the table shake but it looked cool and thats really all that matters. Since the bus wasn’t leveled, welding the support to the ceiling was a bit tricky but the end result was flush.

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The color of the bus kept changing. It was originally suppose to be a blue-ish grey but army tan kept getting thrown into the mix. We purchased our paint at Napa. They had break downs of the paint and what goes into them so we kept narrowing down which colors. After about thirty minutes of holding up the line we finally went for it. The color had a little too much magenta in it once it dried but still looked great.

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On Friday we didn’t get as much as we wanted to get done so we were forced to come in early Saturday to set up the spray booth. We got giant rolls of plastic sheeting from Sherwin Williams which was walking distance from the warehouse. Wrapped pieces of wood up in the plastic and then screwed them into the ceiling. As we were almost wrapping up, we ran out of hardener which thickens up the paint and allows for the paint to harden before it drips. No paint company is open past noon on Saturday so we were pretty much screwed until Collin remembered he had some hardener from when he painted his civic ten years ago. The hardener was the same formula, just ten years old which we weren’t really sure what that was going to mean. Turns out it wasn’t doing its job as well as it should and we ended up with some drip marks. One of these days we will buff them out. Painting the bus took awhile and we knew it would be an all day task but we still expected to get out by dinner. Ended up being 9pm till we got out of there, just in time for some Founders food and brew.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

No one sprays a bus with automotive paint due to the size of the vehicle. Well, we did. Chris and I wore proper masks with separate particle and organic vapor filters. I had a small leak in mine. When we took a break in-between coats I couldn't help but comment on how loud the birds were chirping. I realized I was lit on the fumes and couldn't stop laughing. With the mask fixed, we went back in for the second coat. – Collin Snoek

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We didn't know if we'd have the bus leave on our originally scheduled date, which was a very bad thing because some of the riders' flights were counting on us leaving in time. With the team showing up, it was a nice boost that only lasted ten minutes and then it was back to work while giving them tasks to start checking off.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

The team really didn’t have a place to stay so they were staying at the warehouse. The early crew would work on the bus in the dark with a flashlight but come nine A.M., it was all power drills and lights. Since they were living there, they had no where to shower. It ended up raining one of the days so some of the dudes took advantage of the situation and got their shower in. The trash begun to get out of control with a mixture of normal life and bus life. The warehouse was the worst we have ever seen it.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

A select group of people were down to feed us and keep us hydrated while we were killing ourselves on the bus. Ray & Michelle Snoek (Collin’s parents) made a bunch of homemade pizzas for the entire crew one of the nights. Michelle would randomly drop off breakfast for us. Jess & Dante would cruise by and feed us more pizza. Jason, our buddy that works at Founders Brewery dropped off a box full of beer. There was normally always something to munch on or drink while the chaos was happening. This helped out a ton because when you’re busy, it’s crazy how many times you forget to eat.

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Mike was back and worked on sanding the rims with Stevie. Not an easy task, but then again, what was on the bus. They got a fresh coat of black automotive paint along with the bumpers and additional metal trimmings.

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The roof got a couple coats of reflective paint that strengthened the roof and protected the bus from getting any hotter than what it already was. This was a crucial move.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

The most brutal part of the entire build was the end. The last week of building the bus was definitely the most productive, but at the same time, the most intense and exhausting. Everyone involved was both physically and mentally drained by the time the bus was ready to get on the road. Normally the warehouse has 1-3 people there at most and during the last week there were so many people and cars.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

The closest I've come to crying over spilled milk is dropping a gallon of paint on the ground and losing my shit. – Collin Snoek

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Mike ended up cutting his finger while he was working on the bus decals. For some reason his thumb wouldn’t stop bleeding so he kept taping it up with electrical tape. It was pretty funny but it worked.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Jordan would come in whenever he had spare time and just get right to it. Painting the red lettering on the bus right next to him, I saw the progress he would make every hour. I would get into my zone and paint for a straight hour or so and when I’d get up to stretch, I’d be amazed at how much unnecessary wiring he’d removed and cleaned up. He’d just quietly kill it. The difference was insane at the end of it all. – Mike Spizzirri

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

I have done a ton of loose sketching and drawing in my life, but when it comes to Tilt, I strive for everything I design to be pixel perfect. It’s a gift and a curse. Collin and Chris would be the first to know. This was why the idea of hand painting clean graphics on a bus that’s constantly being worked on, boarded, shaken, and tore apart was terrifying to me. I’m always up for a challenge, and I tend to do absolutely anything and everything I can to prepare before I make the first move. In this case, transferring all my drawings and taping straight edges off helped a ton. After that, it was all about a steady hand. – Mike Spizzirri

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Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to be a part of the bus trip, but the bus got a part of me! My lettering design made it all the way to Portland! – Mike Spizzirri

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

We tried to save and label all the bolts that came off the bus but with multiple people coming and going and moving things around, we lost a bunch. We had a box of misc bolts that definitely helped out but we still needed to make multiple trips to Kutches Hardware, a local hardware store that frequently hooked it up with hard to find bolts. Chris ended up running there every morning on the last week like he was grabbing coffee for the crew.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Trying to be preemptive, we replaced the alternator and serpentine belt. For some reason the serpentine belt was the hardest to find around town. Both being super simple to change minus the pulley on the alternator. We didn’t have an impact drill so we tried doing it by hand which was impossible so Andy had to take it home to get it off. Andy stepped in rather late on the build and that is because we didn’t know we needed him. He ended up wiring the audio, interior lights and inverter.

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I sprained or broke my hand (no time for the doctors visit to know the difference) while being in GR so every once and a while I would get a massive build up of fluid in my hand while I was working on the bus. – Chris Martin

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Towards the end of the bus build I was pulling such long hours that I became a hazard. I've had a dislocated toe for over a year, and the constant physical work on the bus was taking a toll. My work boots were on my feet so much that an infection grew and worsened from the movement and sweat. The toe became infected to the point that I had to take a break to run over to the ER. The ER held me for extra time because my vitals were off. After a while they warned me about pushing myself so hard and reluctantly let me go. Soon after that, I was hopping down from the bus late at night. When I landed, my ankle popped sideways and rolled. I was exhausted to the point that my basic motor skills were diminishing. – Collin Snoek

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

Jess lended a helping hand by choosing colors, wood and fabric for the finishing touches. She ended up sewing the cushions for the bench and helped paint the cabinets and bench with Tom K. The funny thing is, We bought two different options for the floor because we thought the first option was going to take to long. Turns out we didn’t use either and just painted the floor grey so we could get the bus on the move. Just adding one more task for when we have some spare time to work on the bus again.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

The bus was never fully completed because riding and traveling was more important than spending another week fine tuning everything. The bus had sat for almost 2 months with the batteries disconnected, the motor worked on, random wires missing and some how it started. Everyone in the warehouse couldn’t believe it. From there it was, do what you need to do to get this thing moving.

Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800 Tilt Bus Build : 2003 International 3800

During the build, everyone that worked on it, their regular lives didn’t matter. It was strictly work, sleep, eat and shower. Lots of times we would forget to do the last three so the people that care about us were forced to make sure we were taken care of. We would like to thank you all for putting up with us and helping keep us alive during this chaos. Michelle Snoek, Ray Snoek, Jessica Nail, Heidi Snoek, Dillion Vrosh, Jason Vrosh, Christine Martin, Kelsie Garrett, and Amanda Astroth.

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Disposable : Summer 2016

Posted by Christopher Martin on

We sent around a handful of disposable cameras to the TILT family to capture their summer. Most of the cameras found their way back to us to get developed and put into this TILTLIFE. The photos range from Chicago Street Jam to camping in the woods with everything in between being captured. The photographers consist of Dylan Kasson, Michael Spizzirri, Issac Miller, Collin Snoek, Chris Martin, Christian Dean, and Jordan Jasa.

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Tilt Takes Toronto

Posted by Christopher Martin on

Photography by: Chris Martin, Collin Snoek, Jordan Jasa & Christian Dean. Copywriting by: Chris Martin, Christian Dean & Jordan Jasa.

This trip took a lot of preparation from the start. We went back and forth about going to a midwest town or going somewhere rad like Puerto Rico or Montreal. After a month of back and forth it was pretty unanimous, Canada it was. Collin and Chris did a decent amount of planning the route which later turned into a full blown Toronto spot list to break up the drive to Montreal. In addition to the 12 hours spent on virtual walks using google, we needed a van since we sold our last one during the move. Collin went in and picked the sketchiest, cheapest van we could find which was a Ford Diesel that got nicknamed the “Fuckit Bucket.” A roof rack was built and some minor rigging was done. Tilt was as ready as could be to hit the road in hopes to make it into Canada at the very least.

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We stopped every chance we could on the way up because the van didn’t have AC and had a hole or two in the fire wall which made it hotter inside than outside. This trip was during the crazy heat wave that hit the Midwest.

Tilt Takes Toronto

Our first Canadian adventure took place before we even got into the country. Collin was really on the team about being prepared to cross the border. So when we got to the checkpoint, the team sat and chilled while Collin did the talking with the agent. Sure enough, he managed to answer them in an unnecessarily sketchy way (he got tripped up when they asked if anyone was gonna be making money on the trip) and so we got directed off to the side, into no man's land for further investigation. We piled into a waiting room, did some waiting, got caught up on the olympic tennis standings, they double checked Jon's identity, gave us back our passports and we were on our way.

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Collin had to pee and eat so we pulled off the freeway to find a shaded spot which turned into an out in the open spot in between two cornfields. Not an ideal situation but turned out to be fun. Jordan was very confused because to him, being from small town Iowa, it seemed he had not traveled very far from home despite the hours we had already driven.

Tilt Takes Toronto

Our campsite was a very interesting situation. Somehow we managed to turn a five hour drive into eight so we got to the campground as the sun was setting. We all stayed in our seats while Collin did the talking since there were nine smelly dudes in a van. At first they told us we couldn't stay because they were full but somehow Collin got us in. Where there is a Collin, there is a way. We ended up with a solid group campsite that had all the room and was away from everyone else. It was perfect.

Half the team set up Josh's aunt's humongous tent while the other half went to go find beer from a local grocery store. Turns out you can't do that- they don't sell beer at grocery stores in Canada. But we ended up with 2 liter bottles of cider and wine made by Growers. To be honest it wasn't bad and it set things off in the right way...or so we thought.

Tilt Takes Toronto

The next morning, Collin noticed the power steering was leaking. While he still had fluid in the system, he made the decision to take it to the shop. As that was happening, we were told we would have to move our tents. It took about 45 minutes to set the big tent up so there was no way we were gonna tear it down. Everyone grabbed an end and carried it to our new site.

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Since the van was still being worked on, Issac, Jon and Chris decided to go for a swim in the river and wash off as others just laid around, skated, edited photos or drank the left over Growers.

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At last, the van was here to save us from going insane from boredom. On our way to our first spot, we saw a really long flat bar. Pulled a U-turn and seshed it till a security guard came an hour later. He was extremely polite and so was the old Italian man that promised he didn’t call the cops but he did want us to go. We were not used to this; turns out the stereotype is true.

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Still on our way to our “first” spot, we saw an apartment complex that had some sweet roof to ride on along with some more flat rails. Both Jon and Issac got clips as the residents came out to watch. Everyone was so intrigued and very confused as they rooted the team on.

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Finally, we made it to our “first” spot which ended up being our last spot. This was a school that was really a skatepark. It was a lot of fun getting creative with the bank and rail lines.

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As the whole team was focused on one part, Jon was looking at a really long kinked rail. It was as long or longer than the one Issac attempted in Grand Rapids a year or so back (think thrash resistant ad). Jon attempted this rail making it past the kink a couple of times but the sun was going down along with Jon’s energy. Issac gave him some words from his experience and the sesh came to an end. Some things are just too gnarly and not worth killing yourself on the first day of riding.

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The next day we all woke up at different times and waited to move the tent again. It was insane that we couldn’t stay in the same spot more than a night. The ladies at the spot we were suppose to move to were taking their sweet time. Chris went over to talk to them and after he finished asking them when they were going to leave, they responded in french. That’s when we knew we were screwed and would have to wait till noon which is when they had to leave.

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On the third day, we hit up a park in Toronto and met up with local rider Ethan Kirk. We started to make plans to ride spots downtown when storm clouds began to roll in. We were forced to make a choice: drive back to the campground to grab our stuff in case it rained, or take a chance to be able to get clips. We compromised and so Jordan, Christian, and Smukal headed to the city with the homies while the rest of the squad drove back. It was a good thing, because our rain tarp wasn't on our tent and so it was filling up with water. The boys went out and bought towels and took everything to a laundromat to dry what was wet.

Tilt Takes Toronto

While the rest of the team was out at the park warming up, Dylan and Chris got dropped off at the hospital. Dylan was battling some sharp stomach pains before the street jam but they went away. They came back this day and he was seriously thinking about flying home. After a couple hours running tests at the hospital he was released. With questions still unanswered, the two of them were ready to be picked up but things didn't go as smoothly as they hoped. Turns out half the crew had their hands full and the two were left stranded downtown with no scooters for 12 hours.

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Meanwhile, those of us in the city were able to cruise the city and manage to get some clips, but not before getting drenched in the rain. We were at this famous manny pad spot when it started pouring buckets. We were able to find cover under a building right there, but must have sat there for an hour at least. After a while of that, Jordan said screw it and started riding in the rain, getting some rad shots anyway. After a sesh of doing tricks over a little sign that was there, we headed to this underground food court/parking garage. We filmed some jibs down there but got kicked out, and finally it was dry enough for us to keep riding outside.

Tilt Takes Toronto

So while cruising we came across this flooded underpass that was blocked off by the cops. Some idiot taxi driver had gotten stuck in the water and the fire department was pumping water out. We also saw two brave bicyclists ride directly through the knee high water with no issues, while Christian was setting up to film a trick. We ended up having a successful night and the van picked us up right after the camera batteries died.

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We started the next day off like we started every day in Canada; fight ourselves awake through the sore muscles from yesterday's riding, scavenge for the nearest Starbucks to get our caffeine fix, then load up the van and head towards the day’s first spot. Following the pattern of this trip the first spot of this day wasn't on our list, but one we spotted from the road while driving. It was a crusty, transitioned bank to concrete wall. After getting a few wallrides in, the lady who owned the house behind the wall stuck her head out the window and began to heckle us. She was angry about how loud we were being, and that she and her kids were trying to sleep. We tried to reason with her, but she wasn’t having it. A few minutes later, a rather sketchy dude started walking our way from down the road. He was getting really hyped on us and was asking us to do the wallride and other random tricks on our scooter. After he saw the lady yelling at us, he started yelling back at her telling her to leave us alone and go back inside. It was hilarious to watch this random guy defend us against the old lady yelling out her window. He was definitely the homie.

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After getting a few clips at the wallride spot, we continued on to our neverlasting list of spots. A few spots that we showed up to ended up being duds, which wasn’t ideal. On our way driving to (hopefully) the next successful spot, we came across a green mellow double kinked rail. The rail seemed too good to be true, and that’s exactly what it was. We’ve never seen a rail that wobbled more in our entire lives. Jona was eyeing up the rail and deciding if it was even worth hitting. After only a couple tries, he managed to suicide FS lipslide through both kinks. Issac got his back with a FS 5-0, which shouldn’t have been possible on the rail. While Issac and Jona were riding the green rail, Jon had his sights set on a steep wall-rail against the building. He got a perfect BS 5-0, then we packed up and headed to the next destination.

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The next spot was definitely one of a kind. It had a slightly curved handicap rail that went along the sidewalk, then abruptly turns into a short stairset rail. In the middle and off to the side of the rail was a random circular manual pad. While half the crew took a pit stop at the Tim Horton’s next to the spot, Tom was trying to boardslide the whole rail. After battling the rail for about an hour, we decided that the sharp curve at the end was impossible to slide through. Dylan started looking at the manual pad, and began to try a FS 180 fakie manual. After getting close multiple times and then almost calling quits, he managed to pull the fakie manual across the pad. This spot was definitely better looking in the pictures, and a lot more difficult to ride than we were anticipating. We rallied up the crew and headed off to the next spot.

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We made it to a famous courtyard that everyone was having a good time at. Both Jona and Jordan got their tricks first while Issac and Jon screwed around at the spot. Jon ended up falling on his pre-existing scab that was getting infected. Issac ended up landing some pretty cool things like a 180 to fakie 50-50.

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Jona started going at a bar 50 and Issac soon started trying a whip 50. Tom had been attempting a wallride 50 the entire time. It was fun watching three of the riders add their own style on a single spot. This spot sort of resembled the time when Tom battled the wallride smith in Pittsburgh back in 2014. All he needed was that perfect land and he had it but that never came this time around. Jona and Christian were the only ones that rode away from this spot.

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Toronto seems to be full of apartment complexes with rideable rails. We stumbled on this screwed up kink that dropped off into the flat part. Both Tom and Issac were playing around with it. Once everyone got set up to capture what was about to happen, Issac went for it. First time he hit the flat super violently and sort of shot out. He grabs his scooter and knows he has it. Second try he absorbs the kink much better and rides away. Everyone was in shock, like it was really that easy?

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This pool was really rad but not forgiving. There was a lot of interesting lines to nail down and we spent a decent amount of time at this park.

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The crew split up a little bit again, with most of us splitting off to ride and the other few to chill in the van. The riding crew started making their way towards the city, just cruising for spots. The first one we found was this building with banked wallrides on the side. A fire hydrant and bike rack spiced it up, and we ended up staying there for quite a while clocking clips. The crew continued on, with mild success.

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We ended up meeting on a random street away from the traffic which turned into a perfect chill spot as the sun was setting. Some girls came by and said they wanted their photo taken so they posed by the van. Like usual, Dylan found a spot in the nearest alley to hit. Both him and Jordan ended up getting something on it.

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We came up on this brand new school with a few pretty good spots. Tom decided to send it down a double kink even though it was beginning to rain lightly. He kept getting closer and closer, but it started to rain harder between tries. He landed the rail twice but didn’t get his tailwhip out. We finally had to call it quits since his griptape became useless and he kept slipping out on the rail. He managed to cheat death more than once on this one.

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While driving around deciding what to do, we stopped to check out a rail in front of a house. It must have been garbage pickup day, because there were boxes of clothes and other random stuff on the sidewalk. Issac copped a flannel robe and rocked it for the rest of the day. We took shelter at a nearby skatepark that was placed under a bridge. The park was moderately packed with skateboarders and small children snaking their way throughout the ramps. Even with spirits at an all time low because of the rain, we managed to have a good sesh at the small and quirky skatepark.

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This was our second time at this spot. Jona had a line he really wanted to get on these super smooth ledges. We showed up with no wax and we knew it was going to be a problem. As Jona tried to land it without the wax, some people cruised to a store to get some wax for him. As they showed up with the wax, we were getting kicked out. Jona was down to try it while they called the cops but then a guy with his dog stood in front of the ledge. As we were leaving, they all started taking pictures of us on their phones like they were going to do something with it. Every time we got kicked out of spots, everyone was really nice and apologetic. This was our least pleasant kick out but even then, they were still polite. It was so weird, Coming from America, we are used to people being rude and hostile.

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We showed up to the last spot (this was the 2nd time we came here, we ruled it out as an irrelevant spot the 1st time) and we pushed around the school. The back of the school had a large bank, with multiple handrails scattered throughout. One particular rail was a triple kink with an extended flat at the bottom. This was a monster of a rail and seemed anything but possible.

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We started looking around a bit more, and Christian had his eye on a roof to dumpster hop. He climbed up to the top to get a better look, and decided he wanted to try it. Christian usually likes to keep his wheels close to the ground, so this one was a little out of his comfort zone. After a few minutes of hyping himself up, he got the dumpster ride first try.

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Issac started looking at the monster rail again. It had everything going against him; it was tall, the downs were steep, the kinks were harsh, and it was concrete on both sides. There were no safe-havens on this rail. He told himself he wasn’t doing it being content with the other kink he already landed a couple days ago. Chris came up and sat next to him, giving a little nudge towards him hitting the rail. He explained himself and rode away. He had valid points.

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After a couple run-ups and some encouragement from the boys, Issac started to try and slide the giant kinked rail. He kept getting closer with each try. He would make it to the end of the rail almost every attempt, but then get sent by the extended flat on the bottom.

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After about 10 attempts, Issac landed a proper boardslide all the way through the extended section of the rail. Some people tried to hold back their excitement but it was rather hard to contain our excitement for him. It was a perfect way to end the trip. We ended up making it to a bar for some pizza and adult beverages where Collin treated the team for a great time. The car ride back to the motel was a musical with hit after hit as everyone in the van sang at the top of their lungs for 30 minutes. Spirits were high and the last thing we were thinking about was the 6 hour drive back to the shop.

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Overall, things could have gone smoother for Tilt's first international trip. We didn't make it to our original destination, Dylan was out sick for a couple days, the whole camping thing was more or less a disaster, we were hit by rain, the van was hotter than the Devil's asshole, and buying beer at night after a long day of riding when you just want to chill? Easier said than done. But hey, it wouldn't be a Tilt trip without something going wrong. Even with the setbacks, we were able to film an awesome video. That's what makes this team so special- the ability to persevere, have fun, and work hard to create something the entire community can enjoy. We hope you enjoyed Tilt Takes Toronto, and we'll see you on the next trip!

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Chicago Street Jam 2016

Posted by Michael Spizzirri on

This years street jam we played it pretty close to the finish line. We always start planning for it super early but when it comes down to wrapping everything up, it’s never done until the last week. This year we weren’t done until the morning of the jam. A couple people were on the fence about the last spot since the risk factor was super high. We had a feeling someone was going to the hospital.

Another issue we had was the hunt for an HVX. A couple filmers we were relying on coming to the jam couldn’t make it so a last minute call went out to Proto to hook it up. Now that all the spots had been Bondoed, there were two cameras and three filmers to swap between, someone to lead the jam and a motorized scooter to tow around 17 people at a time, we were set.

The first spot we hit wasn’t too far from Wilson skatepark and was supposed to be a somewhat easy rail for people to hit. To our surprise, only a handful of people were into the rail. There was also a yellow pillar at the bottom that made it risky to try certain tricks. The people that weren’t riding were either running to the store to buy drinks for everyone, climbing the railroad bridge or getting on top of the roof and poking holes into peoples ceilings. The spot ended up lagging out a little so we packed it up and headed to the next spot. Big shout out to Proto for sponsoring this spot and throwing in extra money for some of the winners.

The second spot we decided on the day before the jam. It is a cool spot to film a line but we didn’t exactly think about people wanting to hit the ledges from both sides which made for one big cluster fuck and a really hard time to film because nobody took turns. A lot of people battled it out and tried to get tricks, while others stood and watched the chaos. Scooter Zone ended up sponsoring the ledges and through out some tricks that needed to be landed for some quick cash.

We pushed pretty far to get to those butter benches and had a long trek back to the third and fourth spot. Pretty much, the second we got to the spot, people were already hucking themselves down the 4 block. We aren’t even sure how people had the energy after that mile push back. So many tricks went down here and it was very fucking pleasant to watch. The trick to land was a 180 down the gap to half cab up the curb. It was pretty intense to watch multiple people attempt this but out of nowhere, Reece landed it first try. The Shop had the cash to back up that request and the spot was shut down. We moved to the front of the building.

Issac killed himself, landing a triple heel that immediately lead him into chugging a beer and showering himself with it to clean off all the dirt on his back from falling.

Once we moved to the front of the building, we were at the spot Aztek was sponsoring. It was a skinny flat rail that had riders squaring up and getting use to it. Mark "Black Momba" Williams ended up hopping on for a back lip and lost balance so he kept his foot off and landed a one foot back lip which was pretty amazing to watch. That sort of set the tone for this spot. Only 5-10 riders were into the rail but they were attempting some solid tricks. We probably would of stayed there another 30 minutes if the cops didn’t show up. Some people were stuck cleaning up in front of the cop while the rest made their way to the final spot.

The last spot was a doozy. It was a very tall 10 flat 10 that went straight into a tunnel. The likely hood of someone eating it hard was about a 10. We ended up having a decent amount of money left so we told everyone, whoever tricks down it gets $100. That made some people line up and others gather around to watch the mayhem. With the first person aka Dennis pushing fast at the stair set, everyone was keen to see if he was going to make it. Both wheels touched ground with relief. It was hard to believe someone landed it first try. With that out of the way, we all wondered what was next. Before we knew it, Nick was pushing fast at the set and threw the gnarliest 360 anyone has ever seen. It looked like he was going for a nose dive at the end but really he was just throwing in some extra flare. Collin walked up, realizing nothing gnarlier was going to be thrown and handed Nick the rest of the cash we had on hand. Every year we don’t know how we are going to top the year before but to our surprise, it keeps happening.

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