What makes a rough coaster?

[coolcalicoaster]

^What do you mean? Vortex at KI is super smooth

I hope you could read my sarcasm! That was one hell-of-a rough ride! Every part of it from the second hill to the brake run.

[Sasquatch]

With arrow it also doesn't help that they seemed to have no concept of how to make any transition between elements smooth...

 

Yeah... it seems they never realised until Tennesee Tornado that straight-line transitions are NO-WHERE NEAR adequate!!

[dr.gumbo]

^ I heard it has something to do with the fact that the track vibrates a bit more by the time the latter cars reach it but I'm not sure if that idea holds water.

[tt.repo.man]

It really depends on wether the coaster gives me a headache. Gwazi looks like a great coaster, but when you ride Gwazi it gives you a the worst headache ever! The Hershey Sidewinder on the other hand was bumpy yet really fun to ride. If it causes a massive amount of pain in the head I don't think its worth riding.

[B-RadG]

To KDCOASTERFAN, Shockwave's wheels do not touch the track at all times.

It runs only on road wheels. If you watch the wheels while going up the lift you see the guide wheels don't move at all.

 

And on some Arrow coasters, the straight line banking to turn is actually much smoother if you sit in the back. Loch Ness Monster's fan turn will throw you to the side if you're sitting in the front, but it doesn't if you're in the back. Also you can watch the cars vibrate around and jerk side to side in the back. The only disadvantage I've found to the back is the fact that it made me black out at the end of the first loop. Other than that, all drops =

[dcxs]

Its an interesting question, I wonder if Intamin or B&M would answer these questions if we e-mailed them. Maybe if Robb did it they would reply since they should take him seriously.

 

EDIT: Not that Intamins or bm's are rough but at least they know alot about the subject

[Capitalize]

^What do you mean? Vortex at KI is super smooth

I hope you could read my sarcasm! That was one hell-of-a rough ride! Every part of it from the second hill to the brake run.

 

To give Vortex some love - it is at least among my favorite arrow loopers and arrow coasters in general, certainly has an interesting layout and some entertaining moments despite some bad head banging at times.

[KDCOASTERFAN]

To KDCOASTERFAN, Shockwave's wheels do not touch the track at all times.

It runs only on road wheels. If you watch the wheels while going up the lift you see the guide wheels don't move at all.

 

And on some Arrow coasters, the straight line banking to turn is actually much smoother if you sit in the back. Loch Ness Monster's fan turn will throw you to the side if you're sitting in the front, but it doesn't if you're in the back. Also you can watch the cars vibrate around and jerk side to side in the back. The only disadvantage I've found to the back is the fact that it made me black out at the end of the first loop. Other than that, all drops =

 

Funny thing about the setup on shockwave vs the similar setup on woodies.On woodies the guide wheels don't fit tightly,otherwise the train would never make it through the slightest curve & would bind instead & yet we don't complain about the roughness associated with it half as much as we do on steel coasters.

 

Being a B&M Dominator has the fully locking wheel sets & yet I've still had some headbanging on the ride(varies from train to train & ride to ride) so it's not just the wheels that contribute to a smooth ride.

 

What matters most is the track geometry as many others have said.B&M & intamin have the benefit of newer computer software to help them heartline a ride while Arrow only had the most primative of computer hardware/software to work with although their suspendeds sure turned out to be among their smoothest rides ever made.

[scooterdoug]

Funny thing about the setup on shockwave vs the similar setup on woodies.On woodies the guide wheels don't fit tightly,otherwise the train would never make it through the slightest curve & would bind instead & yet we don't complain about the roughness associated with it half as much as we do on steel coasters.

 

I think the reason people complain about roughness on steelies but not woodies has to do with lap bars vs. OTSRs. Woodies have only lap bars, while many steel coasters have OTSRs. With a lap bar, a ride may be rough, but the restraints are nowhere near your head. Hence, why people complain about roughness on steel coasters but not wood ones. At least that's my theory.

 

-Doug

[DBru]

^Plus, wooden coaster trains usually have a lot more (and softer) padding than steel coasters.

 

I also believe it is partly based on people's expectations. Riders usually board a wooden coaster expecting it to be more rough and out-of-control, while they usually board a steel coaster expecting it to be more smooth and flowing.

[Kennyweird]

B&M & intamin have the benefit of newer computer software to help them heartline a ride while Arrow only had the most primative of computer hardware/software to work with although their suspendeds sure turned out to be among their smoothest rides ever made.

 

Not necessarily true.

 

B&M, Intamin and Arrow were all building coasters during the 90's, and even though they all had (I'm assuming) access to the most up-to-date computers, B&M and Intamin's coasters were still far superior to Arrow's. Besides, the calculations required to design a coaster are relatively simple by computer standards, so a coaster designed on a modern computer probably won't be any better than if it were designed on a computer from '95. Both computers will give you the same result.

[MrX8991]

I remember reading somewhere that Arrow's problem was that they heartlined their track incorrectly, and their "heartline" is actually near the rider's knees, thus creating a rougher ride on the head.

[Miltonmx]

Also here are some important things to consider:

 

Coaster facts:

 

- Track condition (Mentioned)

- Wheels condition (Mentioned)

- Seat on the train (Mentioned)

- Safety belts (Mentioned)

- Design (Mentioned)

- Temperature (warm wheels gives more speed)

- Humidity (Big humidity conditions increase fricction)

 

Personal Facts:

 

- Sleep Hours (If you sleep a few hours previous a coaster ride, you may feel a big headache caused by low blood pressure)

- Eating habits (If you ride with nothing on your stomach, you can experience also headache caused by low blood pressure, and if you ride with a full stomach you may experience nausea)

- Physical condition (A good and healthy body, resist better a rough ride)

 

Riding Technique:

 

-Previous riding in rough coasters I recomend some warming up excercises on the abdominal, arms and neck muscles. That will give you some condition for the ride experience.

When you are riding you shall identify some sections that pushes you to any direction, and the best that you can do is to hold your bar to resist the movement.

On vibration sections, is best thing that you can do is to let you go with the train and don´t resist the forces.

This technique can give you a more comfortable ride experience.

[palmerleeberry]

Many years ago, I was shown a demostration on what makes a woodie coaster rough.

 

NOTE: YOU CAN TRY THIS EXPERIMENT ON YOUR OWN; NO WORRIES ON BLOWING ANYTHING UP. IN OTHER WORDS, IT'S SAFE AS APPLE PIE.

 

"Could we get on with this? I'm falling asleep here!"

 

Okay, you need only two things: the shiny wrapper from chewing gum and a steel ball bearing. First, carefully unwrap the shiny wrapper from the gum and set the gum aside (or you could pop the gum in your mouth - your choice). Next, straighten out the wrapper on a table or kitchen counter until it's smooth. Now, roll the ball across the wrapper and notice how smooth the ball went across the wrapper.

 

"Yeah, that ball went across the wrapper like smooth butter."

 

Now, pick up the wrapper and crunch it up as much as you like, then straighten out the wrapper back on the table and run the ball back across the wrapper.

 

"Hey, that ball didn't go across the wrapper as smoothly as it did last time! Any explanation?"

 

I just demostrated what happens to the tracks on roller coasters after many seasons of coaster cars running across them. The steel tracks and the wood underneath them tends to worn out, causing the ride to get more and more rougher each season. That's why parks tend to retrack some of their coasters so the ride can be smooth once again.