Custom Coaster Trains

I'm 6'3 and I've never had a problem with PTC trains or the lapbars. I've generally found them to be the most comfortable trains and lapbars available for wooden coasters. Am I missing something?

-Nate

I utterly DESPISE PTCs. I hate the position of that stupid orange lapbar. It kills all of my air. Hate just doesn't cover it.

While I don't think I've done loads of G-train CCIs, (Twisted Twins were just kinda 'meh'), the Boss is my favorite CCI and tied for favorite woodie largely because it doesn't use PTCs. And yes, I've done Legend and Boulder Dash and Hades and Avalanche and Cornball and a few other woodies with PTC coaches considered to be 'great.' Haven't Voyaged yet, but otherwise...

Count me in as a G-train fan. A rather non-padded fan, at that.

-'Playa

*** Edited 3/26/2007 4:45:33 PM UTC by CoastaPlaya***

Cornball doesn't have an individual ratcheting lapbar. Did you like the position of the single lapbar better? To me the single two-position lapbar is far superior to the individual ratcheting bars.

After riding Lighting Racer last summer, my first time on a GCI Mellenium Flyer train, wow... that knocks PTC out of the ring!

Those MF trains are much roomier, track better, much less confining than PTC's.

Imagine the Legend with a pair of those! Imagine any woodie with those trains. I think on a strick out and back, the PTC's are fine. But those stupid ratchet lap bars hurt, confine and take away air time.

Thank god we still have some old one stop lap bars on Cornball Express and Cyclops - and a few others.

I still don't know why there haven't been any trains built with the oldie type bars on the Coney Island Cyclone. The ergonomics of them make them 'safe', the locking is strong, and you still get more airtime.

The MF lap bars aren't the best, but much better than PTC's.

Now Imagine MF trains with CI Cyclone lap bars :) arghhh... loose the seat divider while your at it :)

How anyone can complain about a PTC lapbar while extolling the virtues of the Millennium Flyers is completely beyond me. The MF trains have just about the worst lapbar I've ever seen. It's heavy, it's painful, and it's more restricting than both the PTC train and the Gerstlauer train.

I still fail to see how a standard PTC lapbar is restricting or painful. That's the one wooden coaster lapbar I've never had a problem with.

*shrug*

-Nate

^try having long legs and then knock them constantly into a nearly unpadded bar for three minutes and tell me what it feels like. Everyone has a coaster train that hurts them, it depends on your body type.

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J7G3 said:Imagine MF trains with CI Cyclone lap bars arghhh... loose the seat divider while your at it

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^That^ would be perfection on wheels... :)

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Touchdown said:
^try having long legs and then knock them constantly into a nearly unpadded bar for three minutes and tell me what it feels like.

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As I said above, I'm 6'3" tall. I've never had a problem with hitting my legs in a PTC train. That lapbar doesn't seem any less padded than any other lapbar I can think of...

-Nate

The worst bars I've encountered are the ones on the Vekoma trains... Its a padded oval T bar... but the complete lack of springs and the shape means it digs into your stomach! I could barely breath after one ride.

I can't speak for anyone else...but here's why I despise PTC trains.

I'll put it this way. I'm just under 6'1", barely over 200 pounds and most people wouldn't think I even weighed that. I kickbox once or twice a week and I'll run a 8-minute cooldown mile when I'm done. I can pretty much run a 5K without hesitation (okay, the running surface might give me pause) and am deciding whether or not to try my first marathon in October. Personally, I think it's crazy--but I have friends who are egging me to train with them. I dunno.

So that should give you a pretty good picture of me. Much smaller in the belly than average, but definitely not chicken-legged. The polar opposite of 70% of men my age.

I didn't say I found PTC lapbars painful. I said I found them constraining and they kill every bit of my airtime. They'll drop down on me where they won't drop on--for lack of a better descriptor--a pot-bellied guy with chicken legs...and since I don't have that admittedly useful gut, I'm stapled. I'm not squealing in pain. I'm very safely BORED to tears.

I'm used to getting more airtime in spots I never did when I weighed 270 and psycho air where I got it when I was large. I like my big air! I worked hard to achieve it. How dare them take that away from me!

-'Playa

I also think that there have been more 'accidents' with the ptc 'ratchet bars'. Such as enthusiasts bunji-ing them, arguing with attendants, making 'keys' to unlock them... bunjis 'snapping'.

And dare I say the incident on Raven would not have happened with it's original lap bars.

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CoastaPlaya said:
I didn't say I found PTC lapbars painful. I said I found them constraining and they kill every bit of my airtime. They'll drop down on me where they won't drop on--for lack of a better descriptor--a pot-bellied guy with chicken legs...I'm used to getting more airtime in spots I never did when I weighed 270 and psycho air where I got it when I was large. I like my big air!

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That could go a long way toward describing why the overweight enthusiast crowd tends to worship the PTC trains and hate on the Gerstlauers...

...however, at 6'3" and 180 lbs, that certainly doesn't help to explain why I've never experienced any such "restriction" or lack of air in a PTC train. Granted, stronger return springs help, but I've never felt like PTC lapbars tend to "staple" more than something like a Millennium Flyer.

-Nate

I haven't done a flyer. I have no idea what they're like. I will in a couple of months.

I was comparing them to fixed buzzbars--i.e. High Roller before seatbelts, Cyclops--and any of the Gerstlauers I've been on repeatedly. (Read: BossBossBossBossBossBossBoss)

A coaster with those stupid PTCs feel the same as they did when I was lugging 70 more pounds around...and in my humble opinion, that simply won't do. Your mileage may vary.

-'Playa

It does regarding not only Gerstlauer trains, which I consider vastly inferior to PTCs and GCI MFlyers, but The Boss as well: a pooly designed and maintained coaster with bruise-inducing, pad-free Gerstlauers that shuffle over rampy bunny hills that produce sharp & short moments of air [rather than parabolic bunnies that produce sustained, long, and floaty airtime].

No thanks!

I guess I'll have to pay more attention the next time I ride in a PTC train, 'cause I'm still not understanding the "restricting" aspect. Yeah, they're more confining than something like a Gerstlauer train but I'd rather be confined than have my thighs beat to hell by those stupid u-shaped bars. My guess is that if you find the PTC lapbar restricting, you're going to hate the Millennium Flyers. I'd be interested in hearing your reaction after you've ridden in one.

The Boss is one of the meanest coasters I think I've experienced. Part of that is because you're thrown around in the Gerstlauer trains. Another part of it is that I don't think it's as well maintened as it should be. But hell, I still loved it. :)

-Nate

Like I said before, I have no *body*-padding at all. The PTC restraints don't even reach my lap! And yes, it is almost the same way with a G-Train u-bar but still; everything is cushioned with a PTC, but almost NOTHING is padded on a Gerstlauer!

Nate, What do you say about having your ribs bruised all to hell from them short sidewalled PTC's. Avalanche caused me some serious pain untill I learned to ride in the left seat only and let the divider absorb the latterals.

PTC are about the only non tilting sidewall trains out there. NAD's you sit deeper in and the sidewall comes to your armpit.

I just like coasters, I think there are good and bad with about any train. PTC's probably the champ as far as durability and the ability to get parts quickly. As for ride comfort and ability to reride. YMMV. Moosh has his taste, I respect that, I however had absolutely no problems with THE BOSS. Again YMMV.

Having thought further on the subject....it seems that the Gerstlauers give a ride that gets *progressively* rougher as you go further back in the train. From the front row, they're NOT that bad, usually. From the back row, I need some pain reliever and maybe even a nap.

PTCs do tend to lessen this *amplification* of roughness. MFlyers, frankly, eliminate it altogether.

I am not sure but arent some of the people from GCI from CCI or am I just totally out of it. Even if they werent why didnt CCI order Millinieum Flyers from GCI instead of both the G-trains or the PTC trains?

I think some of the people from CCI went to the Gravity Group not GCI but i'm not sure.