Scream roughness

I'm surprised that nobody has screamed, "Roughness!" so far in this thread. ;)

--Ryan

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When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, hmmm, boy.

I've noticed no vibrations on Batman Knight Flight on my 15 or so rides this year. Tt was very smooth and I found raptor and Mantis to be more rough. The thing that i did notice that in the middle of the cobra roll (between the two inverting parts of the element), the turn between the corkscrews, and the helix there was a rather lound "clicking" sound. I fugured that it was just the upstops though.

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www.RideWorld.com

I have also noticed the clicking and the common B&M rattle on B:KF, especially during the corkscrews and final helix. On just about every B&M I've been on I've heard the "rattle", but I don't know what causes it. Does anyone else know why most B&M trains rattle through certian segments of track?

When wheels go bad, the trains tend to bounce. Not sure about Scream! because it is so new, but I've been on B&Ms that don't rattle.

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-Parker
www.SFMWZone.com

Mark, next time you ride it pay attention to the final helix after the corkscrews, the vibration is quite noticeable, and I have gotten in well over 100 rides this year. Granted the last time I was there was one month ago, so they may have alleviated the problem. I also did not mention Mantis and Raptor because they are obviously not Floorless, not at a Six Flags park, and both have numerous years on KF.
*** This post was edited by stopher 8/9/2003 6:41:33 PM ***
*** This post was edited by stopher 8/9/2003 6:43:06 PM ***

Rattling can occur when the track is not smooth: Then every car of the train bounces over the unevenness in the track, creating a series of banging sounds that can be perceived as rattle.
The other possibility to rattle is if there is too much play in the wheel position, and the track shifts is the direction the force is applied. Then certain wheels may leave the track, while others start to get in contact, making a rattling noise as it happens.

I agree with this vibrating sensation on Scream! However it is not painful, nor does it detract too much from the experience. Scream! in the very last row is the best on the ride. Not rough nor do you feel any vibrations and you get the best air and feel for the G-forces in the backseat - the first drop also yanks you off the lift - an amazing feeling you don't get in the first row.

Did you happen to ride Psyclone while you were there? ;)

I have ridden on 3 batman the rides, 4 standups (Chang, RR, Mantis and Iron Wolf), Raptor, BKF, and wildfire and have yt top find any of them rough, I had bad headbanging on Iron Wolf, but that isn't what I consider rough. I have felt slight vibrations, but i obviously seem to "tough" it through. I think we have gotten spoiled and complain about anything that isn't completely perfect.

Don't get me wrong, not one B&M I have ridden classifies as "ROUGH AND UNCOMFORTABLE"! I just noticed that Medusa and Kraken are very smooth, while BDK rattles and shakes a bit. One theory that I have is that BDK's tight transitions could cause the train to rattle because the track is jerkier than sprawling rides like Kraken. On the other hand Vortex and Georgia Scorcher have tight transitions much like BDK and they are smooth as glass.
*** This post was edited by Willh51 8/9/2003 10:41:49 PM ***

Medusa East is Incredibly smooth, Even for the first floorless ever. Its still really really smooth, Along with kraken. I dont see this as a six flags thing though, I mean SFgadv Maintains their rides very poorly...But still the ride is very smooth. I do seriously think its a SFMM thing, They so badly wanted to put in this ride so fast. That the construction was really rushed and they might have not lined up the track pieces perfectly. I didnt understand why they took so long to get the ride off the ground, I remember a few track pieces sitting there until finally it just shot up in a matter of a few months. Bad move yet again by SFMM?

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-Dennis
www.Drinkduff.com

What do you mean yet again Dennis!? ;)

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-Parker
www.SFMWZone.com

Track-pieces not probably lined up could definitely be a problem.
There is this travelling inverted coaster here in Germany, "Eurostar", that has a very well designed layout reminiscent of the Batman-clones, also with box-beam track. I guess it could be a very smooth ride, but because it's constantly put up and torn down in 2 weeks time only, the track pieces are generally not lined up very well at all on this ride...
making it feel like a car crash or equivalent.
The sounds it makes are kind of "ratcheting", as the sequence of cars passes over the transitions between the rail pieces.

Is this a sound that you can hear when you stand next to scream running?

I have ridden quite a lot of B&Ms now, and my experience of vibrating B&Ms is:

Silverstar: Coming out of the first drop into a swooping left-hand hill, you certainly feel quite a bit of vibration.

Nemesis Inferno: Inferno has developed a few spots of vibration, most notably on the approach into the second corkscrew.

That's it I think. To be honest, like most people I haven't found it a problem, more of a characteristic. So long as it isn't something that is going to develop into a pain.

Regarding Eurostar, it used to be pretty smooth but has become a killer over time. Probably down to the usual aging process, sped up by - as you say - the assembly and disassembly of the ride.

Oh, to the person who said "Just think, Scream! could have been made by Vekoma. Then what would everyone be saying!?": I would say that people would be complimenting Vekoma on their smoothest coaster yet, and complaining that it is unridable two or three years later. Always happens - Space Mountain and Jubilee Odyessy are both good examples.

The vibration seems to be an issue with the new Beemers, but not with the older ones.

This begs the question, what has B&M changed?

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If given the choice I'd choose a hamburger over a hotdog anyday of the week.

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MagnumForce said:
The vibration seems to be an issue with the new Beemers, but not with the older ones.

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Actually, I did notice that B:TR at SFGAdv did some vibrating in the front, but none in the back.

Could the vibration be a simple case of who manufactures the track? I'm assuming it isn't limited to just one place in the US? Anyone?

Really people i road it last week and it was one of the smoothest there and yea it does have a lil bit of vibration but it is a roller coaster comon

Yes but the vibration seems to be somethign new that has cropped up with Beemers built in the last couple of years. Has the train design changed at all in the last few years because that is the only thing I can think of.

The track for all the US models is manufactured in Ohio while the European models have their track built by Gionovola in Europe. The fact that the US models as well as European models exhibit it is proff that it is not a track issue.

The vibration doesn't take away from the ride at all, I just find it odd.

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If given the choice I'd choose a hamburger over a hotdog anyday of the week.

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Koppman said:
Did you happen to ride Psyclone while you were there? ;)

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Nope. The ride had a really long line and I have already ridden it many times already. It seems as if the non-enthusiast crowd enjoy this ride a lot.