Intamin over B&M?

We have been seeing a lot of new and inovative intamin rides in the past two to five years but haven't seen many new and inovative B&Ms. I understand B&M came out with a decent flyer type (superman clones are not very good in my opinion - but their seats are comfortable :) ) I am particularily wondering about hypers, gigas, etc - building up, and building faster. Where has B&M been on the scene and why have we primarly/only seen things from Intamin? Will B&M have a version of a strata/giga of their own? Or will they stick with the classics?

Only time will tell.

BM has never been one to break height limits, they prefer to make new coaster designs and rides with great layouts instead. I expect that the Intamin hyper disaster is going to turn the tide in BM's favor and I expect to see some new flyer layouts in very near future (with more loops) from them and prehaps the long rumored BM 4D when a park feels that the economy has picked up enough to invest in that ride.

Why do they need to innovate right now?

Because inovation is the key to success. Innovative layouts, innovative designs.

Actually, reliability and longevity is.

See Top Thrill Dragster, X, and Flasback.

All were innovative in some regards... A coaster that's practically like bungee jumping, the world's only 4D, and the first coaster to use splines (or such, I don't have time to look it up, but I know it was the first) to create the track. Look where they all are now.

There's nothing innovative about building 300 boomerangs and SLC's, but Vekoma seems to have built a business on it.

Innovation just gets you the headlines.

There are TONS of innovations in the latest B&M rides -- The way the trains monitor themselves, the way the harness systems work, the ability to guarantee safety without the use of a seat belt, etc. On top of that, B&M acheives all of that without making their rides complete monsters to maintain. They might not be the tallest and fastest things ever, but they sure do work well.

I think that the Intamin issues are going to make a lot of companies go back to using the B&M rides. Intamin has caused way too many headaches lately, whether it be from the SFNE incident to the new supports for Wicked Twister, S:UE (Steel Venom) and V2, companies would rather get a ride that functions from day one than risk being on the national news for bad, bad stuff...

It may be true the parks want rides that will work from day one, however, Intamin is addressing the situation. They are not just hiding behind their desks hoping everything will just go away.

I do not think parks are going to trust Intamin any less then they did a few years ago.

Also, B&M is doing just fine, they are still getting their orders. They may not be as busy as they were during 1999/2000/2001 coaster boom, but they are still making sales.

I have doubts that ANYONE's as busy as during the 1999-2001 period...

Touchdown, you list them as BM and what I think of is Bowel Movement. Not trying to rag on you though. :)

I think that B&M and Intamin both have found their niche in the coaster market.

I myself prefer Intamin. In my opinion they push they envelope of technology much more then B&M. Sure they have had problems with TTD, but they are also getting that running more reliably.

Look at all their recent installations in the US alone. Almost all of their new coasters have a unique ride element that no other manufacturers coasters feature. Like Storm Runner with its Snake Dive, or Millennium Force with its overbanked turns. Those are just examples.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy B&M coasters, and Nitro is up there as far as one of my favorites. Simply put they use the same elements so frequently in each of their coaster types that they are often too predictable. Example inverted. Drop, loop, Inline twist, Half loop or cobra roll, corkscrew, or maybe 2 corkscrews. Predictable. The only deviation seems to be the height of the ride itself.

I know that there are variations like Great Bear with the helix after the chain lift, or Montu with its Batwing. These are actually my favorite rides. The ones that surprise me by throwing in something different.

Every single Intamin ride that I have ridden thus far has thrown something at me that I haven't seen in a previous installation, and that is what I enjoy so much. Whether it be that 122 mph launch or that Snake dive element I know that when I get on an Intamin there is going to be a surprise for me.

B&M is great, but much more cautious to try something new. Intamin says what do you want? We'll deliver you something unique. For that in my eye Intamin wins hands down, or up if I am on one of their coasters. ;)

I know I should stay away from VS threads, but I just couldn't help adding my thoughts.

*** Edited 5/22/2004 4:44:32 AM UTC by Coasterfantom2***

I'll take B&M over Intamin anytime. You don't see B&M haveing to go back and put extra supports on there coasters, plus they don't have any seat belt problems. They also seem to be more compashionet than Intamin.

I'm kind of stuck in the middle. Intamins are so much more intense and unique than B&M's, but B&M's have got that silky smooth ride, that other coaster companies will never be able to match.

I think that the silky smooth ride has been matched several times before. One example would be California Screamin'

Dragster Freak but the "&" is too far up on my keyboard and I have to look down at my hands in order to type it :(;)

While overbanked turns and the Snake Dive are impressive feats they pale in comparision to creating the Invert, essentially creating a flyer (the two versions have allmost no similarity), inventing those nifty (safe) hoof print lap bars and hyper trains.

New trains and new types of roller coasters are a lot more difficult to do, to me Intamins biggest accomplishments during the past 10 years would be the hydraulic launch, the mega coaster trains, the square track and the elevator lift. If you take those Intamin inventions and stack them up against B&M's inventions they are pretty even but since Intamin trains and track have had some problems I think B&M still wins out in the end. *** Edited 5/22/2004 4:41:35 PM UTC by Touchdown***

Intamin certainly makes headlines with their rides, but I've never travelled hours and hours to get to a park to ride their new signature B&M to find it closed...

Talk about effin true... Coasterfantom2- see, the point is to NOT have to go back and fix rides like intamin has done to several of its coasters....sure they can go back and fix it,b ut things are supposed to work right the first time, specially when you pay 25 mill for a coaster.

Intamin= Innovations

B&M= Perfectionists

:)

Perhaps B&M spends more time in Research and Development than Intamin does. This agrees with what Stitch just said ;-)