The Duel Tracked Vehicle (DTV) Shredder itself is an outrageous looking machine. It is part tank, skateboard, and motocross bike. The DTV has two aggressive tank-treads, skateboard deck, and a powerful 4-stroke 196cc engine, which make it capable of traveling through sand, snow, trails, and even mountainsides at high speed, according to the BPG Werks website.
“The Shredder in stock form is very impressive. It has a lot of power and made it up every hill and every type of terrain we threw at it. We got really good at drifting and doing wheelies. [We were] even able to jump into the foam pit doing Supermans and no-footed can-cans off a 7′ tall ramp,” Zack Bright writes about how the idea of backflipping the Shredder came to fruition on the forum located at powerboardfanatics.com.
Bright, a professional stand up freerider for 5 years, considers freeriding 50-percent motocross and 50-percent surfing, knew he could make the backflip happen. He, “Streetbike Tommy,” and Ben Gulak have been friends for years, and Tommy is heavily involved with the Shredder. He is responsible for introducing it to the Nitro Circus Crew who was unsuccessful at pulling off the backflip.
Bright, Tommy, and Mark Gomez were at an event in Virginia and discussed attaining more exposure for the Shredder sport. They let the idea stew for a bit and then Bright got his opportunity to actually ride a DTV Shredder at a jet ski event in France. Later, he received an invitation to Pastrana Land. Tommy wanted him to come out and backflip that beast.
The guys arrived in Pastrana Land and were given a week to make the backflip happen. They spent the first four days just riding the Shredder in order to get a feel for it. The men were able to do wheelies, jumps, hill climb, and more with the standard model.
However, additional power was necessary to attempt a backflip so they got their hands on a Shredzilla, a 50 horsepower, 250-pound rotary-powered beast! When Bright was comfortable on that machine, he attempted a flip in the foam pit and nailed it. All three of the guys were flipping within an hour and even adding little tweaks to their maneuvers.
Shortly thereafter, Bright and crew were working on the ramp position and landing. Once they got the numbers hammered out, Bright was ready to leave the foam and hit the mulch. He launched and landed the backflip, which was phenomenal! Bright and his crew were totally stoked by making history and adding legitimacy to what they hope becomes a new extreme sport.
