Is Shock Wave and Viper smoother than GASM?

I never really heard about pain on Viper and Shockwave like I have about GASM. The Shock Wave and GASM were built around the same time but is one smoother?

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I would only know about Viper, and isnt GSAM that does only a 45 Degree turn, so i think Viper would be smoother than that.

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The Scream Machines Alliance: IntaminAG
www.screamsite.cjb.net

Viper is the only one of the three that is considered tolerable. The other two however, 98% copies of each other, (GASM being an enlarged ShockWave) are incredibly painful. Watch out especially for that 90° jolting turn following the first vertical loop...at least Viper took a turn in that by making it a full U-turn.

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A CoasterForum Member
www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/index.php?referrerid=211

kRaXLeRidAh- I hate that part on GASm the most. When wll they learn. (I'm sure they are aware of that but.....) When are they going to fix that?

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RESIDENT EVIL: BIOHAZARD! Scaring up some HELL only on the NINTENDO GAMECUBE!!!!!
Explains why i'm up at 4am in the morning. Too scaried to sleep!

How are they going to "fix that" without completely reconfiguring the entire ride? If they turned that 90 degree turn into a 180 degree turn you would no longer be headed into the double loops. I've said it once and I'll say it again, the back is spectacular on the ride just anticipate the next turn and you'll be fine.

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Tuesday's Gone With The Wind.
Elijah Rock.
Is it written in the stars?
La Vie Boheme!!!

GASM seems to be the roughest of the three, but I still think you can get an enjoyable ride on it. The myths of headbanging are GREATLY exaggerated. I've power ridden both GASM and Shockwave many times, and to be honest, I've had worse rides on Mantis or Kumba.

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Wash away us all. Take us with the floods.

Believe me, when RagingBullGuy says he's had worse rides on Mantis than Shockwave or GASM, he's not lying...

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A CoasterForum Member
www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/index.php?referrerid=211

I've ridden all three. Like all coasters (especially steel coasters with OTSR's), they vary depending on when they were last overhauled and how tall you are. If you ride a steel OTSR coaster as a kid and then agian when you're taller, the comfort level will likely change depenindg on where your head fits within the restraint. Sometimes a ride will be very comfortable for taller people and very painful for shorter people and vise-versa.
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-Matt in Iowa
193 coasters ridden -- #1 Shivering Timbers
Just say no to Gerstlauer!

On shockwave, if you sit in the middle row, you won't bang your head at all. The restraints on Shockwave are at the middle/top half of my head so I always bang my head when I went in the front and back, but not the middle. Wish I could say the same about demon. No matter where I sit, I bang my head.:(

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Six Flags-Its everywhere you want to be

kRaXLeRidAh said:
Believe me, when RagingBullGuy says he's had worse rides on Mantis than Shockwave or GASM, he's not lying...

I sense sarcasm. :) To be honest, I'm not that good on standups, and while I haven't tried Riddler's Revenge yet, I've experianced more headbanging on nearly every standup than the Mega Loopers. No joke. However, that doesn't mean I'm calling Mantis or any other stand up rough, I'm just saying that there have been coasters with a good reputation that handed out a bumpier ride than SW/GASM. Heck, I've even had more headbanging on Alpie and that's one of my favorites.

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Wash away us all. Take us with the floods.

No, I wasn't being sarcastic. I've had the same experience on Mantis before...ugh I dread the pain!

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A CoasterForum Member
www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/index.php?referrerid=211

Shockwave (at least in the second row where I rode it last week) is just brutal.

Viper at SFMM is not rough, it is definitely not smooth, though. One of Viper's trains does give a rough ride, however, on the most part, the ride is very tolerable.
_________________________
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfmm84/
Six Flags Magic Mountain Xtreme Guide

I acutal lost a lot respect for Arrow Mega Loopers cause the headbanging is just to painful on my part. I've been on Ninja, GASM, and Phanton's Revenge, and in my opinoin they all hurt. The Chiller had a lot more head banging than GASM did but the padded restraints helped a lot. If Arrow would just install some soft restraints, rides like that would atract more guests. All we need are the parks to ask for them. Anyone know if they have?

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RESIDENT EVIL: BIOHAZARD! Scaring up some HELL only on the NINTENDO GAMECUBE!!!!!
Explains why i'm up at 4am in the morning. Too scaried to sleep!

The phantoms revenge is one of the smoothest rides out there. Plus that isnt an arrow looper anymore.

And ninja is a vekoma piece of junk. Like all other vekoma rides except for the flying dutchman, its to rough to enjoy.

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ROLLER COASTERS: MY ANTI DRUG

Even I cannot tolerate Shockwave in the front half of the train. I sit near back so that most of the jarring is absorbed by the time my car gets there! It's that crazy RCT uphill turn into the brakes after the 3rd vertical.......why couldn't they have U-turned like they did on Viper, or at least make an uphill helix to the right that would lead nicely into that trim? There's no sense in a ride having transitions like this. If they had the Tenn. Tornado technology back then, this topic wouldn't need to exist!

The other problem surfacing is wider harnesses being placed on some of the older loopers. These have less room inbetween, and Rideman could elaborate from his recent CP Corkscrew experience. I do believe that we'll see more lapbars on loopers in the future. As for the companies doing this, who knows. But it's clear that the FOF family has been reborn from this simple operation. There are certain rides that cannot go without them, but I know of quite a few now that would be great if the headbanging could be eliminated. Revolution on the other hand.......(they better be gone by July 10th!). Grrr.
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Brad Sherman
Soon park benches will have seatbelts!
Model coasters and rides

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