Why doesn't B&M make forwards/backwards coasters?

I was just wondering if anyone knew why B&M never made any forwards backwards rides.

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Huh? do you mean rides like V2:Vertical Velocity and Deja Vu? If so, those are shuttle coasters (right?)

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Rob

I HATE SNOW!!! I am boycotting snow, I refuse to have fun in it.

i think he meant like you can put the cars on backwards and forewards, wouldnt that be cool, riding NITRO backwards....

B&M ALF. Not Vekoma.

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At least I dont call a vertical loop a "loopdie-loop"!

V2 is intamin....

One would think that'd be great, but (and even though it is a Vekoma coaster to begin with) Joker's Revenge at SFFT is one of the worst coasters I've ever ridden.

The lateral g's are accentuated when you ride backwards. You can't see where you are headed, and thusly have no time to brace yourself. The jolts are unexpected and fierce. Not very fun. It works on coasters like V2 because it is all straight, and there are no lateral g's taken backwards. Deja Vu is noticably rougher backwards, but still ridable, because when you do get lateral g's, they are at the top of the cobra roll, and taken very slowly. (TOO slowly in some cases)

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Loopscrew.com

I think he meant why doesn't B&M make shuttles. I would guess because continuous circuits are their forte and thats what they're sticking with.

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SFNE drops the "floor" on SFNE for 2002! Visit www.geocities.com/sfneguy for info. and pics of SFNE, including NEW constr. pics of B:DK!!!

Well b&m have always been big on capacity. Thats why they have four across seating.

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Touch The Sky

*** This post was edited by B&R-The Chiller on 3/22/2002. ***

B&M 4 across trains have little if any greater capacity that conventional 2 across seating which is usually seen on longer trains. For example, Medusa and Batman the ride seat 32 per train. Nitro seats 36. Intamin's SROS's and Vekoma's SLC's seat 32 per train. Millenium Force seats 36.

The real motive for B&M's 4 across seating seems to be to shorten the train. B&M is very big on having a consistant ride for everyone at all times. A shorter train has less variation from from row to row. This appears to be the real motive for 4 across seating.

Remember that shuttles are launched. So far B&M has avoided launched coasters. (The launch on the Hulk was not designed and built by B&M, even though the rest of the coaster was.) I think that this may have more to do with why B&M haven't produced shuttles. That and the fact that they seem to be able to keep busy making continuous circut coasters.

I hate to sound negative but this thread is going nowhere fast. Losts of misunderstanding and confusion.

The original post - I believe he's referring to shuttle coasters which is what ALF was explaining in his post. The third post by Dragon misses the point of the original post - I do believe he was referring to shuttle coasters. The 4th and 5th post miss the point of ALF's followup as he was just trying to convey that the "backwards/frontwards" coasters are shuttle. (confused yet?)

SFNE freak sums up the confusion of the first 5 posts in one line and offers an opinion on whay B&M doesn't make shuttles.

B&R follows with some semi-misinformation and implies that B&M has higher capacity due to 4 across seating. The problem is that they run trains with 8 cars. This is 32 riders a train. I guess Intamin is even bigger on capacity as MF features 4 seats per car and 9 cars per train - a 12.5% increase in train capacity.

...and what number of riders on a train has to do with why or why not a company makes shuttle coasters is well beyond my logic.

There you have it. My official guide to this thread. ;)

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www.coasterimage.com

So if a park ask B&M to make them a boomerang they wouldnt?

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Out of the coasters i've ridden here is what I rank them overall:(ive been to canobie lake and SFNE)
1. S:RoS 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Riverside Cyclone 4. Canobie
Corkscrew 5. Thunderbolt 6. Galaxy 7. Mind Eraser 8. Dragon coaster 9. poison ivy's tangl

I bet they would laugh.

Jim Fisher said:

The real motive for B&M's 4 across seating seems to be to shorten the train. B&M is very big on having a consistant ride for everyone at all times. A shorter train has less variation from from row to row. This appears to be the real motive for 4 across seating.
B&M's four-across seating has less to do with that than it has to do with the fact that every row on a B&M train is articulated (that is, "cars" are one row long). This helps B&M trains to navigate the sharp twists, turns, and snaps included in B&M layouts smoothly. It would be possible to have row-by-row articulation on a train with two-across seating, but the trains would be extremely long - much longer than an Intamin hyper train, for example. Can you imagine a train with 16 cars? It's like the Zierer Tivoli coasters - you know, the ones where you're afraid the front of the train is going to complete the course and slam into the back of the train before the back car has a chance to move. ;-)
-Nate

I was talkin about a ride similar to a boomerang or Deja Vu. I think it would be cool to ride a smooth forwards backwards rollercoaster.

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Doesn't Vekoma have a patent on the boomerang/invertigo design?

B&M hasn't built anyone a shuttle coaster because no park has wanted one, or if they have, they didn't want it enough.

End of story, right there. We will now continue with our regularly scheduled program.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

ravenguy,

I don't think wickedtwisted was referring to a shuttle coaster, but rather coasters like Thunderation at Silver Doller City.

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Excalibur Crew for 2002!

quote removed... there's no reason to use a quote for the very next post. -J

The fact that he has already said what he means is obviously totally irrelevant when it comes to helping people understand.

B&M aren't big on anything other than money. I'm sure they would generally build whatever amusement ride that you want them to, within reason, provided the sack with the dollar sign on it it you give them is big enough. That and they have or are capable of developing the technology to design the ride and parts.

Vekoma probably does hold the patent on a Boomerang, but obviously, a park would go to Vekoma if they wanted a Boomerang, if they really thought they needed a B&M non-continuous coaster, then B&M would obviously design a different ride.

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So what if the best coaster in Australia is a second hand Arrow?
http://www.totalthrills.com

*** This post was edited by Jeff on 3/23/2002. ***

The part about this whole thread that confuses me is how Ravenguy knows no parks have asked for a shuttle coaster from B&M.

CP asked B&M for a giga...and was turned down...how do you know they didn't turn another park down?

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"Villain-Once You Drop, The Fun Don't Stop!"~SFWoA Rules In 2002~With SFWoA ANYTHING Is Possible!

ditto -J

I said they've never asked for one, or they never wanted one bad enough.

I assure you, if someone offered B&M $200 million for a shuttle, they would get it.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

*** This post was edited by Jeff on 3/23/2002. ***