pkd freak Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I went to the carinval this past weekend on Nile Mile Rd, here in Richmond. I seen this ride Power Surge... and I just had to ride it. So later in the evening, I went on by myself, cause my girlfriend and her son was scared to ride. For one thing it tilted to the side cause I was the only one in the car and the weight was not leveled out. But that wasen't the scary part, how about when we strted going up and then flipping, my harness popped open a little bit, I was terrified, I just could vision myself clinging onto the harness for my life. I dont think I could go on anymore flipping type carnival/fair rides anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrakenKing Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 It's typical for the restraints to give a bit. I've ridden two Power Surge rides (Wild Adventures and Beech Bend) and both the harnesses popped up a bit. I think it's just how the ride is designed. It's actually one of my favorite flat rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VivaLaVibora Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 When they check them on the ground, they will all click at one time. If you don't push them in more, they will probably do what happened to you. I have been on 3 of them a lot of times, and it never happened when it popped in the air. The three were at Cypress Gardens, All Star aka (NAME Amusements), and Belle City Amusements at the Ohio State Fair. I just don't ride them one time. I rack up a lot of time on them except for the Ohio State Fair one a lot because there were a lot more rides there. I think the Power Surge is awesome, and is a little better than the Shocker. The Shocker has 3 arms, and 4 seats back to back on each arm while the Power Surge has 6 arms, and 2 seats back to back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCoasterny Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 That's strange.. Knoebel's Power Surge has its restraints hydraulically locked into place. Maybe the Power Surge model you had ridden might be an earlier model before Zamperla changed the restraint locking system. I also noticed that the motor for the arms is perpendicular to the boom, where Knoebel's model and all the newer ones out there has the motor parallel to the boom. I've noticed that Zamperla will change how the restraints are locked into place on their rides. For example, the prototype Hawk where the lady fell out used Mixer restraints, Seabreeze's Screaming Eagle (Hawk 24) uses a motor actuator to raise and lower the restraints and lock them in place, where Dorney Park's Meteor (Hawk 48) you have to manually raise and lower the restraints, and they are hydraulically locked into place. The Power Surge restraints that pop up a notch might have been a 1st generation design, where Knoebel's is a 2nd generation design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VivaLaVibora Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Knoebel's looks like the same height to me at other one. What other ride does the seats hydraulically so I can understand what that means? Inverter, Chaos, Max Air, KMG Fireball, Tivoli Spin Out, Intamin Space Shuttle, and so on. All I know of seats is that there are rides like roller coasters where you pull them down to your size, and than there are rides like Power Surge where the seats all come down, and stop to however big you are. I don't know which one is hydraulically, and which one isn't. With the Power Surge though is that, it double clicks for the rides I have ridden when it's ready to lock. If it's not in the right position, I'm thinking that it might move a little bit as what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayberry21 Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I'm not a big fan of carnival/fair rides in general. But I have had that happen to me on rides in major parks, including rollercoasters. There is a reason for it...and I can't think of it at the moment...but it does happen. For the record, Power Surge is one of the few rides that still manage to freak me out when I'm on it lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCoasterny Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Knoebel's looks like the same height to me at other one. What other ride does the seats hydraulically so I can understand what that means? Inverter, Chaos, Max Air, KMG Fireball, Tivoli Spin Out, Intamin Space Shuttle, and so on. All I know of seats is that there are rides like roller coasters where you pull them down to your size, and than there are rides like Power Surge where the seats all come down, and stop to however big you are. I don't know which one is hydraulically, and which one isn't. With the Power Surge though is that, it double clicks for the rides I have ridden when it's ready to lock. If it's not in the right position, I'm thinking that it might move a little bit as what happened. Knoebel's Power Surge has the hub motor mounted similar to this one: http://www.zamperla.com/dettaglioImmagine.asp?nome=immaginiFoto/dettagli/powersurge13_400.jpg The one you have in the picture above, has the hub motor mounted similar to this version: http://www.zamperla.com/dettaglioImmagine.asp?nome=immaginiFoto/dettagli/powersurge28_400.JPG As for the hydraulic restraints, they usually are very hard to open, you have to give extra effort to push them open, and you usually cant lower them until the operator flips a switch that allows them to close. The restraints usually can lower on their own. They normally don't make a ratcheting sound like you usually hear on coaster restraints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolliger&Mabillard Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 If it is a racheting restraintthen you can expect that from time to time. ANyone who has ever ridden any of the Deja Vu's now that they will be in between clicks now and then. No real danger...just don't play around with that seat belt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VivaLaVibora Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Oh. I thought you meant the vertical height of the Power Surge, and not the motor on the ride. For all the Power Surges I have ridden, they must be hydraulic. When they lock though, they click twice. Does Knoebel's make any noise when they lock? What would be the reason for moving the motor? Is it harder to turn horizontally? That's what I'm thinking, but I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCoasterny Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 There's a soft click when the bars lower, and then another slightly louder click as they lock into place. If you turn your head and look at the side of the restraint housing, you can see a knob slide into place on the final click. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkd freak Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 Well the harness on this one automatically came down, and I couldn't push it down anymore. I just didnt feel safe, now I think I would had felt more safe if it had a seat belt, I'm just not use to being on a ride and the harness pops a little bit. Also when the ride came to a stop, some of the cars were stuck on their side or either upside down, and the op had to come and push something on the car for them to come down, is that normal also? I just don't care too much about carnival/fair rides. Too many accidents happens, and a lot of times, it's NOT the guest faults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VivaLaVibora Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 The cars never get stuck upside down for me, or I've never seen them stuck upside down for any of the other cars. Yes, they might be on the side, and that has to do with one person only riding it. The weight isn't evenly distributed, and it does that. Too bad, you didn't take a video of this Power Surge, I would like to see the cars being stuck upside down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PURE Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Well the harness on this one automatically came down, and I couldn't push it down anymore. I just didnt feel safe, now I think I would had felt more safe if it had a seat belt, I'm just not use to being on a ride and the harness pops a little bit. This is actually typical with that type of restraint. Sounds similar to the system used on Hammerhead when it used to be at Knott's. If you look to the sides you'll see a plate with holes in it, if the tooth locks and it's in-between one of those holes, it will adjust during the ride if they're not pulled or pushed prior to the ride starting. And it is a pretty loud clunk when it moves, so I'm sure that and the movement freaked you out. But even so, I'm not a fan of carnie rides anymore. Too many rides traveling around not getting taken care of like they're supposed to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calaway Park Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 The fairs here are taken care of well, and that happens. It's just a normal occurance. I've ridden far more flat rides than any other type of ride though, that might explain why they don't really scare me. I'm starting to find even the Zipper boring because I've ridden it so much. -_- But yeah, it's perfectly normal for the restraints to click! Heck it happens on lots of rides with restraints like Power Surge. I'm pretty sure the Top Scans have the same restraints, it happens to me on there all the time. Power Surge and Top Scan are in my top 20 fair rides. =] Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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