tire styles make smooth rides

Did you ever notice that coasters with the side tires that are on the outside of the track are smoother than when the side tires are in the inside? All the B&M's i know that are smooth or were smooth for a long period of time, their tires are on the outside? Same with Intamin.

I don't know, Arrows are on the inside, but I think there really is no connection there.:)

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No Bad Coasters, Just Some Better Than Others.

Location of side wheels isn't the main reason for smoothness in regards to wheels. The main reason is that B&M and Intamin use spring loaded wheel assemblies. Arrow and Vekoma have large gaps between the side and under wheels, which is a contributing factor to the roughness of their rides.
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- Peabody

Why don't Vekoma and Arrow change that?

I don't know about Vekoma, but I believe Arrow has. Tennessee Tornado was their first big coaster in a LONG time, and all reports say it is MUCH smoother than it's predecessors. I believe they made some changes to their wheel assemblies (among other things).
Vekoma is improving, but has a ways to go yet until they are of the quality or some other (cough...Swiss...cough) companies. A new wheel system for all of their models would be a step in the right direction.

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- Peabody *** This post was edited by Peabody on 5/9/2001. ***

I was going to post this! I was wondering if there was any connection between the two...

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"Johnny Rotten shot me with his BB-gun."

Actually, consider the following:

o The wheel assemblies on Tennessee Tornado are identical to those used on Steel Phantom.

o Premier Rides puts the guide wheels on the outside.

o Morgan usually puts the guide wheels on the inside.

Draw your own conclusions. Mine is that the guide wheel position makes NO difference in terms of ride quality.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Ever ride a smooth TOGO? Their guide wheels are on the outside. It doesn't make a difference.

Hey RideMan:
TT doesn't use new wheel assemblies? I heard that they were new, guess not.
So what is the main difference between old and new? Better transitions and track fabrication?

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- Peabody

As nearly as I could tell, the only difference between the Tennessee Tornado train and an earlier Arrow looping coaster train is that the Tennessee Tornado train has the larger (12") road wheels. But Steel Phantom had those. The thing I noticed on Tennessee Tornado, though, was that I don't think there is any straight track on that thing. The transitions are far more gentle, with the curves carried out smoothly between elements. I suppose it is not inappropriate that the Tennessee Tornado be a curvaceous coaster... :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I don't think spring loading the wheels makes that much of a difference. A train with spring-loaded wheel assemblies will ride just as rough on poor track as a non-spring-loaded train. I think the spring loading makes it a little smoother and mostly serves to quiet the ride.

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Decisions determine destiny; Destiny determines decisions.

I'm not sure about that Janfrederick. B&Ms are LOUD and they use spring loaded wheels. Granted, smoothness and roughness are both combinations of many different things, but spring loaded wheels are a big part. Take a average rough steel ride like a Vekoma SLC (most everyone has been on one). You can actually watch the under wheels and side wheels SLAM hard onto the track and they are forced to go from stand still to the speed of the train. That is a very big part of the roughness, but there is of course more.

About volume, I believe the main factor in volume is wheel types. Nylon wheels seem to be tremendously louder than polyurethane wheels. (Some nylon wheel using companies like B&M have silenced some of their coasters using "pea gravel" in various parts of the structure)

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- Peabody

Well if there is some kind of connection, they should do it to FlashBack. That and the main wheels underneath the cars should be rubber. It'd make FlashBack so much smoother and less painful. I'm still recovering from the bump the shoulder harness gave me on one of those turns.
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Who is Mr. X?
The world may never know. *** This post was edited by Mr. X on 5/10/2001. ***

Peabody, you are correct. I guess that what I meant to say was that I think smoothness, rather than being due to wheel assembly, is more of a function of the design and fabrication. The designs having improved tremendously over the past decade because of computers and perhaps the fabrication as well (although I don't know if there have been any improvements to track bending machinery).

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Decisions determine destiny; Destiny determines decisions.