Trying to find history of The Bat at PKI

Hey folks

I remember seeing a link on here a long time ago to a website that had an extensive "history" of The Bat at King's Island. I tried in vain to find the post here, and I Google'd myself crazy trying to find it.

Does anyone recall the history/site I'm talking about? It was a rather detailed history of The Bat and its problems and such. I found a lot of brief summaries out there, but that's not what I'm looking for.

If it helps, I recall the page had a white background and a few photos of the ride and its layout. Thanks!

I think I know what site you are talking about. This is the link I had in my bookmarks, http://members.iquest.net/~davel/bat.html
but unfortunately the site is no longer active.

The page (at least the text) is available on the internet archive, http://www.archive.org/ by following the link http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://members.iquest.net/~davel/bat.html.

Was it this one???

http://www.coasterglobe.com/features/lostlegends-thebat/index.cfm

The pic of the ride from the tower was taken by me.

Having ridden The Bat numerous times. I can honestly say it wasn't that great, It was good, Better than Iron Dragon but far less thrilling than Top gun or BBW. The first half of BBW is about as intense as it got. It did however have a couple of headbanging moments, Not severe compared to some sit down arrows i've ridden but they were there none the less when the shocks would bottom out from swinging too far.

It was a long ride however but had far smaller capacity than say Vortex, even though it had three trains. The Vortex station has a basement and it had a q line down there too and it was always full. The shortest I ever waited for it was about 1.5hrs and thats only when it was open.

The ride suffered several design flaws but the major ones were. #1 Brake fins on the bottoms of the trains instead of between the rails which tore up both the trains brake fins and the station brakes evreytime the cars were unbalanced or slightly swinging when it entered the brakes. #2 Shock mounts in the wrong places which allowed the shocks to bottom out. #3 Not evnough banking for the speed.

In leu of making the costly modifications needed to make the ride reliable and maintence friendly. PKI and Arrow worked a deal to replace it with Vortex and the ride was scrapped. The lifthill steps of Vortex are the orriginal Bat Steps :)

Chuck, who's brothers wife just bought a Bat Mug at a yardsale for 50c :) *** Edited 11/1/2004 6:22:17 PM UTC by Charles Nungester***

I enjoyed the ride which was relativley mild, but lots of fun. It's main appeal to me was the extreme angles close to the ground and trees. I don't recall having huge waits on the days that I was there, usually weekday evenings. It was a down time problem though, being down most of the time when I was there. I don't recall head banging, but it was a long time ago.

I recall one headbanging point on it clearly, It was near the bottom of the lifthills drop where the train swung left and then right. As you said, It was a long time ago but thats what I remember the shocks bottomed out and if you werent prepared for it. Bam.

Chuck, who liked the trains the most :)

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Soggy said:
Was it this one???

http://www.coasterglobe.com/features/lostlegends-thebat/index.cfm

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Yes! That's the one. Thanks Soggy!!

I would have like to have ridden the Bat. I really enjoy BBW, and Top Gun. I really wish that the suspended trend had caught on a little more. I can only imagine what they'd be like now if there were parks still buying them.

This coaster has the kind of legend that not too many others can compare. Its right up there with Drachen Fire. ;)

I know those older Arrows are rough, but I sure don't mind taking a few laps on them.

Actually I believe Vekoma still makes suspendeds There are a couple in Africa and one of Arrows was refitted with Vekoma floorless trains.

Other than the station and lift hill steps. What is left of The Bat at PKI. Someone tould me that the old sign for the ride is some where in the park with dust over it.