I don't know about the rest of you, but, the first thing I'd do is trash the premier trains and get a modified version of the Millennium Flyer trains. The type with a T bar instead of an upside down U. I think part of the reason people get so beat up is because of the train/lapbar design. Especially tall people like myself get pummeled by the one-two combo of knees hitting the grab handle and thighs mashed into the U bar. I'd prefer to go back in time and ride Sonny on Media Day again, jolt and all, compared to the rigorous smackdown received on it now. I think a slightly bigger train (or remove a row of seats per car!) with a T bar restraint would immensely help this ride out! (and put the grab handle on the restraint)
Lots of gasoline and a lighter might fix it. Wait, that's my prescribed medicine for Psyclone. Heck, I haven't ridden SOB so I wouldn't know how to fix it.
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LONG LIVE ARROW DYNAMICS!!
SOB looks like a pretty cool ride, but I haven't had the chance to ride it yet. If I could predict the future (Oh damn, forgot, I can't), I would say that it seems to be going down the same path as the Mean Streak did. They're gonna run the thing down, and then were gonna see the same pattern as with all tall woodies. They're gonna have to brake the fun out of it just to please the GP. Oh well, too bad, an other BAT. HA!
~Joe
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Ride 'Till you drop
I would redesign the trains, and change those god forsaken lap bars. The layout could od a small redesign(I would take out the 2 helixes after the drop and put in some good airtime hills), but it is actually not that bad as it is. It is just those trains.
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DOWN WITH TRIM BRAKES!
Why would you fix it? Its not broken.
I would but the camera in a better place though, add a corkscrew, and maybe another lift hill, wait why not just tear down the whole ride.
(I know Punk would like that he seems to hate everything about the ride.)
First: Re-do the train chassis. The cars are a good start, and from the wheels-up the basic design is okay, but the axles as they now stand have got to go. Build it more like a Runaway Train chassis so that it can track the corners. Switch to dual guide wheels and mount the axles in such a manner as to allow the axles to pivot. This should
eliminate the shuffle.
Second: Cut the lap bar support arm down to size. I find that the lap bar is a basically sound design, but it needs to be about four inches shorter so that it will actually land in the rider's lap instead of his stomach.
Third: Softer padding on all surfaces inside the train.
Do those things, and the only thing they'll have to address is the 'bounce' at the bottom of the first drop.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
http://capital2.capital.edu/admin-staff/dalthoff (.sig down mechanical)
Well, they don't need to do anything. The cars and trains are fine. The ride is fine. The lap bars are fine.
Wow! Everything I was gonna post has already been put down.
The trains are terrible as are the lap bars.
I'm also not to fond of the helixes, they are rough and not enjoyable. I'd love some airtime hills instead.
Overall, SoB really has potential to be the ride it was intended to be. The third train just needs to be put on the track.
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Columbus, OH - The roller coaster epicenter of the world.
Redsigning the trains would be a good start. Those oversized Premier trains have to go. Each car of the train is too long to navigate the turns of the ride effectively. There is so much wasted space in those trains. Millennium Flyers would make the ride better... heck, so would 2-seat PTC trains!
Still, overall SOB isn't a bad ride, nor is it overly rough to the point where I didn't enjoy it.
*** This post was edited by MooreOn on 8/22/2000. ***
I really don't find the ride extrememly rough. It is a wooden roller coaster and is supposed to be rough. The only thing that I would change is to put a T-Shaped lap bar on instead of that U-Shaped ones, or put a lap restraint on like the ones on the Beast and the Racer.
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http://www.coasterriders.freeservers.com
How many times do i have to say that the SoB was built to commemorate The Beast. That is why there is almost not airtime, which makes it more intense (I like it that way). It resembles it's "father" alot, if you put its simmularities together. I would not change anything with this ride, it is too good.
P.S. Why do you complain about the the lap bars they are almost exactly like the ones on MF, and everyone "loves" them.
P.S.S. Those lapbars like Racer and The Beast would not pass the regulations for a looping coaster.
*** This post was edited by Sinker515 on 8/22/2000. ***
*** This post was edited by Sinker515 on 8/22/2000. ***
*** This post was edited by Sinker515 on 8/22/2000. ***
How would I fix sob?
Well, I think everyone knows what I would do..... I would pour gas and and set explosives all over it then light a match. After a few hours of watching it turn to ash, i would walk up to the ashes and spit on them. Then I would have a preist come in and act like it was possesed, sending it straight to coaster Hell. BURN BURN BURN!
-Mike
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"I feel like I'm stuck in Stand By Me." - The Ataris
problem resolved.
Tell us how you really feel, Punk. Please , don't hold back this time! :)
This would be strange, but how about retracking it with the same tubular steel track that is in the loop through the entire circut. Like Gemini at CP. Give it some overbanked turns, and make it a steel hyper with wood supports. This would be one smooth and fast riding hyper. It will never happen, though.
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Gotta ride 'em all!
*** This post was edited by Soggy on 8/22/2000. ***
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the loop also tracked with the traditional layered laminated wood?
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
You're right Jeff, the whole track is laminated wood.
Well, use that then. Then would it be a woodie?
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Gotta ride 'em all!
When I rode it in late May it didn't seem bad to me. I was in the back seat and about the 5th or 6th train out that day.
But everyone is basicly complaining about the trains. I'd call in B&M since they build some comfy coaster trains.:) If they can't build trains to ease the masses I'd go with the gas and flame method.
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Parks hit for 2000!
PKD,BGW,DP,HP,PKI,HW,SFKK,SFA,SFNE,LC,GE,QP,Camden,Lakemont,Knoebels, SFO,CP,
Sinker 515 stated that SOB's lap bars are almost identical to M. Force. M. Force has T shaped lap bars. All the posts I have been reading seem to indicate that SOB has inverted U shaped lap bars. Is this correct as I have not been on SOB yet? If this is correct I don't think the restraints are similiar at all. Or maybe I just misunderstood your point Sinker.
*** This post was edited by CP Twister on 8/23/2000. ***
SOB restraint are kinds like Gershlaunder lap bars or like the ones on a Schwarzkopf train, but the padding is thicker like on Millennium Force though. Thats the best I can describe them "U" shaped with thick padding on the top.
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Parks hit for 2000!
PKD,BGW,DP,HP,PKI,HW,SFKK,SFA,SFNE,LC,GE,QP,Camden,Lakemont,Knoebels, SFO,CP,
Coasterpunk, I'd think twice about calling B&M for wooden coaster trains. Though they are VERY comfortable, they are very heavy and do nothing but ruin the track. Ever ride Psyclone?????
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Goliath: The most intense Hyper in the world.