When Do Good Rides Go Bad?

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rc-madness said:
Rode the Timber Wolf at WOF in 2000, thought it was one of the best coasters in the country. Rode it in 2002, it felt rough. Rode it last month and it was painful. I like a coaster that bucks, but it shouldn't feel like it is going over a series of speed bumps at 40 mph. Someone had mentioned it was going to get retracked in the off season.

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Actually it was retracked in the off season. Only problem is that they did not do the whole thing. If you do not ride it all the time it might have gone unnoticed, but the first drop and first turnaround after the drop are much smoother this year as they were retracked. Also another reason why it is running so rough is because it has been so dry here in MO this summer. If you ever get the chance to ride this thing right after a thunderstorm, you will see the difference that the wet wood makes.

Also it has been rumored that they are going to work on the helix this next off season - not sure if that is rumor or fact, I honestly wish they would just retrack the whole thing and be done with it. However this next off-season will be rather busy for the park as they have the B&M and a few other rumored things happening.

I stand corrected Moosh. Like I said, I loved that coaster, but it seemed like it always needed attention. It was always rough...but not in a bad way, (if that makes sense).

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coasterqueenTRN said:

I was mostly referring to enthusiasts and buffets, but now that you mention it.........lol.

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Well, of course I was referring to the way they cover up people's faces to protect their identities. What were YOU thinking of?

Although yesterday on the morning show I watch on the Fox a-Philly-ate, one reporter was at Clementon on one of the water slides and almost slid right out of his trunks on the air. The anchorman actually said something like "We almost had a visit from Mr. Johnson on the show today." Too funny.

So, I guess what folks are saying is that when good coaster roll bad, retracking can correct the problem. There are not instances when retracking cannot correct the rough roll of the coaster.

Myrtle Beach's Hurricane is the same way. When that opened it was glass smooth and one of my favorite woodies. Not for whatever reason it shakes, shimmies, and beats you around.

I also noticed that Hulk seems to have gotten rougher, and that's a B&M. So I guess steel coasters can get it too. *** Edited 7/21/2005 3:54:25 PM UTC by Willh51***

When do good rides go bad? I would have say some time during their late prepubescent years. They start hangin' with the wrong crowd...you know, poorly themed coasters and the older terrain woodies and such. They aren't built bad, it has to do with their environment.

Son of Beast could have gotten in with the straight-laced Racer and everything would have been fine, but it chose another, rougher path. Sonny thought it could out-rough Papa and look what happened!

Mean Streak decided it would try and upstage Blue Streak but the park intervened before things got out of hand and disregarded the vocal public outcry and sentenced it to life with a trim brake, with no chance of trimless rides. The families of the victims are still lobbying for a re-trial as they believe he deserves death by inferno, but Kinzel has, for now, granted him a stay of execution.

It's a sad thing when good rides go bad, I've seen it happen dozens of times with no end to the brutal cycle. Maybe if the maintenance crews gave them more attention when they were younger this type of outcome wouldn't happen.

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rc-madness said:
Cedar Point has one of the largest wood coasters in the world running in their back yard. The only reason they have not fixed the roughnest of their ride is because of money? That's hard to believe. I'm sure if all they had to do was a little retracking they would have improved the Mean Streak a while ago.

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Mean Streak is not rough. It is just bad.

*** Edited 7/21/2005 8:13:30 PM UTC by Word***

Retracking can smooth out any woodie, the problem is getting it to stay smooth. This requires 4 things: proper regular maintenance, the use of quality wood, a well designed structure, and good foundations.

If the wood, the structure, or the foundations aren't good things will keep shifting and the ride will become rough again quickly. Wooden coasters require regular maintenance to stay in good shape. They're kind of like a car. Go 2 years without checking the oil, and you're in for big trouble.

Great answer Jim. It sounds like there are cases where retracking would be a waste of time because the foundation keeps shifting or the wood is breaking down.

What type of wood typically breaks down faster and which high profile rides are built with them? I wonder how they're holding up. I agree it will be interesting to see how CCI and GCI age over the years.

Also get the sense that when steel coasters start to roll bad that there is not much that can be done. Retracking never seems to happen, though they hold up better then their wooden counterparts. Do steel coasters roll better on some days and worse then others?

The heart of this discussion for me is how should folks take in consideration bad reports, or painful reports of good coasters. If problems can be fixed, and are fixed then who knows how the ride will roll later on. If corrections of problems are less likely, then these painful reports become sad indications of some of our favorite rides. *** Edited 7/22/2005 3:12:39 PM UTC by rc-madness***

Steel coasters are also affected by the elements expansion and contraction due to heat and humidity. But I don't have the physics background to go into the depth that some of our comrades with engineering backgrounds could.

Humidity really doesn't effect steel coasters, it does wood though. The heat does have a major effect on steel though. Even the direction that the sun is coming from at a given time of day can have effects.

I'm not really familiar with which woods are best for which parts of a woodie. I think that Rideman could answer that far better than I could.

I figured humidity might have an effect on the temperature(heat index) and as such, the heat that a ride is experiencing.