I'm beginning to hate lapbars of almost any type

I know you must think I'm mad, but let me explain myself. I'm 5'8" and according to my doctor's office today I'm 156lbs. Here's what happens to me on a lot of rides; the lapbar is set at the correct, safe level in the station. We go down the first drop, or another drop early on in the ride and BAM! the lapbar drops down another level, and now I'm stapled for the remainder of the ride. It totally ruins some rides for me. This week alone, it happend on the Voyage, the Beast, Kentucky Rumbler and another coaster which will not be named yet because it sent me to the hospital due to being stapled.

I agree that a lapbar is a great restraint device, as long as it doesn't lower on you during the ride. Some lapbars that I like are the Premier lapbars on the launched rides, and I like the retrofitted lapbars on the Arrow minetrains (again, I think those are Premier). Not to totally lay all the blame on the lapbar, this does happen with some B&M OTSR's such as on Great Bear where my harness always goes down one more click coming out of the turn after the lift going down the first drop. The big difference though is that it's never ruined my ride.

I'm willing to bet that it was Racer that sent you to the hospital...

As long at the bar is against your leg, and you apply some kind of normal force to it during the ride, you should be fine. I can ride Goliath at SFoG with the restraint 3 entire clicks above my legs and have it stay there the whole time.

The Racer did kill on Saturday. Allmost as much as FoF back row.

I have this issue big time with the GCI MF restraints, particularly on OzCat.

Please stop confusing me. MF = Millennium Force. MFlyer = Millennium Flyer. Thanks! ;)

I'm the same size as you (although probably not same dimensions, everyone is different), maybe a little lighter and I've never had this problem. That's probably because I'd rather staple myself in the station so what you're referring to doesn't happen. I've always had better airtime rides stapled than not ... I don't get the fascination with being "one click up".

Happens to me all of the time. I don't experience any issues because of it. Of course, I generally pull the seat belts as tight as I can and let that do the bulk of the restraining on me.

If the bar can come down some more, then it wasn't firm against you to begin with.

I've noticed that 9 times out of 10 the OTSR's on Raptor notch down one click in the loop, particularly if I'm riding back seat.

I can't say I've ever noticed a lap-bar coming down tighter when I ride.

It was not the Racer. I knew better from prior experience not to ride that or SOB at Beastbuzz on Saturday. Here's my real world example Impulse-ive; If you are advertising and boasting that your ride has twenty-four seconds of airtime and I'm only feeling maybe four seconds at best because my lapbar has lowered, then it doesn't have twenty-four seconds of airtime to me. To me, this is a design flaw for a rider of my size. This is why I sometimes envy people who are wider and weigh more.

edit: reply to Jeff: I do tighten the seatbelt as tight as it will go on every ride I go on. I pull down the lapbar to its' safest level as well. I'm not into flying out of trains at high speed:)

All I want is a lapbar that doesn't dig into my stomach during the ride. This is what happens when the lapbar drops lower. This is why I love GCI coasters but loathe the Millennium Flyer lapbars. At least with Kentucky Rumbler I was able to keep the lapbar off of my stomach for two out of the three rides.

I should've specified earlier that I do love the Intamin lapbars (as long as they're not too tight) and I do love the B&M hyper train lapbars. I also like the Morgans and the one Giovonola (sp?). *** Edited 6/20/2006 12:25:16 AM UTC by Intamin Fan***

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Jeff said:
If the bar can come down some more, then it wasn't firm against you to begin with.

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I disagree entirely. Having ride op's stand on your lapbar will get it down another click... Doesn't mean it's any more safe.

Even though we are living in the "new age" of our hobby where everyone is paranoid about everything, there is a qoute I still stand by:

"There is nothing wrong with a little airtime."

You haven't been stapled until you've ridden El Toro. Ouch.

You haven't been stapled until you've ridden Dominator at GL. The ride op looked like Carlton from Fresh Prince so my friend and I kept calling him Carlton. He got so mad that he would purposely stand there and shove our restraints as hard as he could. Ouch.

*** Edited 6/20/2006 1:03:24 AM UTC by ttdmfwtm***

You haven't been stapled until you get run over by Milton's Swingline.

After all the times I rode voyage the first night at Holiwood nights. My upper legs were murdering me all day saturday and sunday it just hurt to walk everywhere just to the touch they were sore. I could keep the lapbar in place untill the first side widing curve right at the begining of the turnaround most times i was just having so much fun i forgot about it and it would lock down 2 notches, it actually didn't bother me untill the train hits the fly by when it really felt terrible, I didn't let it ruin my trip none. But I understand how you feel.

I always have the lapbar resting against my lap, never a click above or any of that nonsense. But the g-forces often pull it tighter and in the case of the MFlyer trains (is that better, John?), the T-bar is already very tight on my legs at just one click. Two clicks is very uncomfortable.

I'd rather be underneath a tight lapbar than a loose horse collar! ;)

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Jeff said:
Of course, I generally pull the seat belts as tight as I can and let that do the bulk of the restraining on me.

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I followed that tip from you last year when I went to Cedar Point and I told my friends too also, and we all agreed it makes a huge difference, especially on Magnum.

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matt. said:
I'd rather be underneath a tight lapbar than a loose horse collar!

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Agree! Also better in a lapbar than 20' above the car or in some bush!

The tight seat belt folks is a real good idea, because you see the belt stretches a little bit so you allways get airtime, and it prevents black and blues on the lower thighs from lapbars that dont stretch.