Son of Beast does not get the respect it derserves

Tx Giant is anoher one as far as I'm concerned...I like big intense woodies, and Boss and TG are those, and to some extent so is Rattler. Herc and Sonny, those are beyond intense, they're wildly rough...well, Herc isn't rough any more...;)

Cb'er, that's what 'Playa was getting at...super-sized woodies...;)

OK. Sounds kinda trashy; super sized woodies ;)

SoB is rather intense. Some people cannot handle it. Then again, I though Georgia Cyclone was the worst woody I have ever been on.

Every one has his or her own opinion. You have to ride it yourself and form your own opinion about the ride. I do suggest that you ride the middle seats. They are more smooth than other seats. Also, cross your legs when you ride them. The seats are rather crampy.

I like SOB. It is not my favorite wooden roller coaster Beast get's that award. Just so you know I have a 32" inseam. I think the biggest problem with the ride is consistancy. I have gotten some great rides (mostly in row 2). I have also literally been given bruises on the sides of my leg on other trips. The cars need to have more leg room. That would help a lot. It has the potential to be a great ride. It just falls a little short.

Jeremy

The year that SOB gets trains that don't suck, it's gonna shoot up 80 spots in Mitches' poll. Guarantee it. Those trains are some of the worst ever built.

I still have SOB as my number one, but I've grown six inches since I last rode it, so I assume if I rode it again it'd beat the crap out of my knees.

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Johde said:
It has the potential to be a great ride. It just falls a little short.

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Ironic for a ride over 200' tall, no? ;)

I think they should get premeir trains. The reason they have a hard time manuvering the curves is because the cars are so long. That is a long space between the two axels. Take out one row.

That's not it, Cofan101. Read rideman's technical explination. (Ps...they are Premier trains!)

The wheelbase isn't the problem, it's the length of the car. They pulled the axles in from the ends in order to make the wheelbase short enough to accommodate the loop...and if you watch the train going through the loop, it barely makes it: that loop is one of the largest vertical loops around, but it is the smallest radius loop that train can navigate.

So for starters, keep the wheelbase, but shorten the cars to 2-benches each. Maybe even extend the train to nine cars in the process (9x4 instead of 6x6). Even better, trailer the train, putting the wheel sets between the cars. That would give you a train design similar to that used by Intamin on their Mega-Coasters. Most important, that would eliminate the shuffle, and it would insure that nobody has to sit on top of an axle and extended out from the yaw axis.

Second, redesign the car interior. The lap bar redesign was a good start, but it didn't go far enough. The seat cushion was also a good start, but again, not enough. The bottom, back and sides of the seat need to be generously cushioned with a *soft* padding. The floor design needs to be revisited...switch to a flat floor. Instead of raising the rider's feet and tipping the rider into an awkward position that way, do as was done on Flight of Fear: drop the back of the seat cushion down. And accept that while the rider's knees should be higher than his hips, that should be done with the seat cushion, not with the floor. To accommodate long-legged people, it needs to be possible to stretch legs out forward a bit...instead of preventing that, use the seat bench to hold the legs up. I hope that makes some kind of sense.

That would make it rideable, although it would not fix the jolt at the top of the second hill (in fact doing all of that would make the jolt worse because of a slightly longer train!) and it wouldn't make the layout more interesting. To make the layout more interesting, they should have run the ride on down the hill behind the park, down behind the Racer towards the river, stretching the layout out further, making much better use of the speed, and probably reducing the size of the structure in the process. Someone mentioned The Boss...yes, that kind of run from the top of the second hill to the river and back, back up for the loop and the helix...that would have made for a better ride. Straight-line track doesn't look as cool, but it rides a heck of a lot better unless you're gonna build a train that does curves.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

my friend and i rode and rerode SOB when we were there this fall. There was no line and we had fun. Sure there was some rough moments but comeon you can still have fun. or maybe we just like pain...

Cofan101 said:

"I think they should get premeir (sic) trains."

Ummm...SOB trains are from Premier Rides.

Although I liked SoB, I'll agree that it dosen't deserve a lot of respect. It was fun, but it was rough. Still rode it 4 times (last train to boot!) on my last visit.

I think that SOB gets too much respect. If it wasn't over 200 feet tall and didn't have a loop, I don't think it would get hardly any mention at all. Not many woodies get their own spot on one of the coaster shows.

I don't hate the coaster, but I believe it's the worst woodie at PKI. I give it a ride every time I visit and sometimes I give it two, although not back to back.

I agree with rideman on the layout. They should have made the first half an out and back with plenty of hills and then after the loop you get nothing but helices. The best of both worlds with a little surprise in the middle.

maybe they could turn it into a steel coaster ala gemini.

-- alan "... eh!? ... EH!?" jacyszyn

Mark here, (opening up for a real beating) I am sick and tired of all this poop about SOB. I've ridden Boss a few times and gotten a real a$$ beating every time. My worst SOB ride doesn't compare. I also rode Screamin' Eagle at SFStl, the first time I prayed for death. The second time it was darn nice and I would have gone again except it was time to head back to Chicago.

Long story even longer...try it once, even twice. Sit in different areas of the train. The front seat is totally off the hook! Experience it a little ya' know? Then, if you still dislike it, STAY OFF and stop complaining about how bad or rough it is. Unless your friends are threatening to leave you in the PKI parking lot after closing if you don't ride, just go sit by the go-karts and stay out of the line so I can get on faster.

Whew, I digress. Bottom line, you likes - keep riding. You no like - no ride. Much respect to PKI for building a wood ride of this magnitude. I love you Sonny...smooches. Yes, everyone I know thinks I have a "coaster problem".

P.S. The best ride can always be found in the second row of the first car, er, seat 1-2 for the emgee's...IMHO!

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Then, if you still dislike it, STAY OFF and stop complaining about how bad or rough it is.

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I hate that argument. Just because someone dislikes a coaster, they're not entitled to express an opinion?

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Unless your friends are threatening to leave you in the PKI parking lot after closing if you don't ride, just go sit by the go-karts and stay out of the line so I can get on faster.

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I'll gladly jump on the bandwagon...and guess what? I don't ride it. So your line is still nice and short. :)

See, we all win. I come online and whine like a good enthusiast and your line stays one man shorter. It's a win/win!

With all of that said, the ride isn't horrible - it's just close to it. If I'm at the park with people who've ridden then there's obviously no need to get in line, but if someone new tagged along and wanted a lap, I'd hop on.

Using the lovely '5 level' scale where level 1 coasters are "must ride as much as possible" and level 5 coasters are "avoid like the plague" - SOB is level 4. Worth a lap with no line or newbies to the ride, but otherwise avoidable.

It's hard to give respect to a ride like that - even if a coaster show did a segment on it. ;)

No no hold up. People can have an opinion. I've seen all this SOB bashing before and it's a little played out don't you think?

That being said, I love it and you dislike it. That's what makes America great...isn't it?

Well, this wasn't exactly meant to be a bash session...I don't think. The original post/topic was giving praise. It's just that the other 56 replies disagree. ;)

Then again you're talking to the guy who thinks ME is probably the best coaster in Vegas, is sad that Viper is leaving SFGAdv and thinks Viper at SFMM is one of the three best rides at the park.

Go figure.

I see this from both sides. I used to really like the ride, but now choose to not ride it.

I had rides on SOB in 2000 that were just as smooth and fun as many other coasters that many think highly of. The weird thing is the best ride I have ever gotten on the thing, the very next day, I had one of my worst rides.

A few years ago, I took part in a video shoot on SOB with 30 other people. We rode that thing over 20 times during a 3 hour period. I was "placed" in the (at that time) roughest row on the coaster. Front row of the second car. I had no problems at all. Two days later, I went to the park and rode it in the same exact place and had a really bad ride. It seems to me that the coaster has more "hit or miss" time than any other coaster I can think of.

Since the modifications of the restraints were made, I have ridden it twice. The roughness of the ride isn't what bothers me. I just can't get comfortable in those trains since the changes were made.

-Sean

I found the peice on SOB in the show that the original post mentioned quite entertaining. The on ride segment was with someone associated with R.C.C.A. I believe. The look on her face at the end of the ride was priceless. Here she has to say nothing but nice things about the ride, yet her facial expressions are telling a completely different tale. Priceless.