Alpengeists' Chain Lift....What Is Going On?

I have noticed in my last couple of visits to BGW that the chain lift on Alpengeist has gotten noticeably louder. It sounds like an Arrow lift now! (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) Is it just age, wear and tear, or what? Will this eventually happen to Apollo's Chariot also?

I am just not used to it being so loud. It really got my attention last time and I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

***Go, Jr., Go!***

It isn't the chain lift that makes the noise, it is the anti-rollbacks that clatter.

I am not a mechanical buff, but I always thought that B&M encorporated some sort of padding or buffer on their anti-rollback dogs that lie on the trains. They can wear thin, and grow louder. When there is little padding, the dogs hit the anti-rollback teeth and make that metal on metal clatter.

Shaggy

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Shaggy

R.I.P. Maestro
Phantom Theater 1992-2002

Batman The Ride @ SFMM has always been pretty loud as well. In fact its hard to carry on a conversation if you happen to be sitting in the row near the dogs. Funny, tho...I don't recall Riddler being as loud.

Moosh - sure Shaggy is right.

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"Mmmmm....forbidden donut!" - Homer Simpson

Yes it is the anti rollbacks. When they are new, they make little noise. The loudest I have ever heard any chain lift was Raptor's in late June 2002. The most silent chain lift I've heard was Kumba's in late March 2001. So it all comes down to how recently the anti rollbacks were replaced.

Yes, Raptor is another one. When I visited in early August, it was deafening compared to the Mantis lift.

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Thank You for challenging TOS: The Ride. We hope you enjoy the rest of your day, here at Coasterbuzz.

*** This post was edited by BullGuy on 9/6/2002. ***

I've noticed that B&M inverts tend to have louder lifts than all of their other kinds of coasters, although I don't really know why.

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It's 106 miles to Indiana Beach. We've got a full tank of gas and a half-full cooler of cokes. It's light, and we're wearing Disaster Transport 3-D glasses....hit it!

BlkJettaBoost....IIRC, that ride on Kumba was pretty soon after it came out of rehab....which would SEEM to reinforce that argumnet....

It sounds like an Arrow lift now? Maybe it's been replaced with the "missing" chain from Shockwave.

I know that they have increased the speed of the chain. I don't know if that has anything to do with the louder sound. But I have noitced the louder noise this year Alpie seems louder and Nessie seems quitter.

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Apollo’s Chariot,boasts nine drops,totaling 825-feet!while approaching speeds of 75 mph and 26 seconds of air time.

I've noticed that B&M inverts tend to have louder lifts than all of their other kinds of coasters, although I don't really know why.

Well, take a look at where your head is. On inverteds, your head (and therefore ears) are maybe 2 ft from the anti-rollback dogs. Now on say, stand-ups, your head is more like 6 or 7 ft from the dogs, whixh could result in an seemingly louder lift.

also, remember inverted chain dogs are spring loaded which could make them louder than normal ones.

Shaggy's explanation is the one I have heard before. I'm assuming that the ones that are loudest are the ones that haven't had the dogs replaced with new "padded" dogs. I've never seen what they look like, but I've always pictured a solid steel dog with some type of softer plastic covering to keep the noise down. On Raptor, different cars seem to produce different levels of noise. I am pretty sure B&M's have dogs on every car whereas a ride such as Magnum has dogs on only three of its six cars.

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-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

Vampire (new from this year mirror BTR) lift is silent when you're not on the ride. On the ride, you only hear a gentle "ruuoooorrr" as the train goes up.

On the other hand... BTR at SFGAdv was 10 times louder. Probably the maintenance and perhaps! the generation of the ride?

The lift is the loudest part of Talon.

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http://www.eastcoaster.com

In my experience with B&M's, I have noticed that after a few years of operation, they get very noticabely louder. Nemesis and Oblivion were both very loud as well as Batman The Ride. But than you look at some of the newer ones such as Medusa and Nitro and their lifts are very quiet.

B&M's do seem to get louder as they get older...at my home park, Carowinds, the lift on Top Gun was nearly silent when it first opened. Now, I can't even carry on a conversation if I'm within 20 feet of it. It's incredibly loud. I also noticed that Alpengeist did get louder, and so I thought Apollo's Chariot did, too.

I know for a fact that Batman at SFSTL has gotten louder over the years. When I first rode it it was nice and quiet but now it is loud yet stil pretty quiet compared to all the other chain lifts Ive heard.

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If practice makes perfect but noone is perfect, then why practice.

Talons lift is silent just like the ride but BTR at SFGAdv is very loud. Great Bears lift is still silent though.