B&M Hyper restraint/lapbar system

[Pufferfish]

^ Most of us ride ops know better than to leave a restraint at only 3 clicks on someone. I so far have never ridden a B&M hyper where the restraint isn't stapled to me. I normally sit slouched a little to give myself at least 1 click of breathing room during the ride. I don't think any of us are dumb enough to let a skinny person ride at only 3 clicks. If we do though, it's the employee's fault for not checking the restraint properly.

 

Going back to the seat belt issue, the hyper seat belts only cut back an additional two clicks at the most, so a really skinny person can still wiggle out even with the seat belt. The hyper seat belts are probably the most pointless things I've ever heard of. They are really thin so they break easily too.

[larrygator]

^I would estimate that 80% of my rides on Raging Bull, Nitro and Apollo's Chariot were of the non-stapled variety. Like you said, you slouch a little you get some extra room. If you wear a jacket that starts out under the clamshell but ends up outside the clamshell, then you have a little more room. I'm not advocating that anyone do this but I have been on B&M hypers where I pulled the clamshell down an extra notch during the ride after my jacket/sweatshirt became free and I felt I had too much wiggle room.

[ArizonaGuy]

What about the B&M flyers. They seem to have a different type of ratcheting system than the regular inverts do and of course no seat belt. Anyone know what some of the differences are between the two? I've always wondered.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

In 2008 Kings Island added seat belts to just about every single ride. Vortex got them, Top Gun got them, even Beastie got them! I really don't think they should be needed, they all did fine before they were added. The only rides I think should need them are Drop Zone, Shake Rattle & Roll (Troika), Zephyr (Chair swings), Dodgems, and maybe Monster? I'm actually surprised Cedar Fair hasn't added seat belts to Eiffel Tower!

 

Or the park benches or the toilets for all I care!

 

What about the B&M flyers. They seem to have a different type of ratcheting system than the regular inverts do and of course no seat belt. Anyone know what some of the differences are between the two? I've always wondered.

 

Here's the patent document for the B&M Flyers. http://epo.worldlingo.com/wl/epo/epo.html?ACTION=description-retrieval&OPS=ops.epo.org&LOCALE=en_V3&FORMAT=docdb&COUNTRY=CH&NUMBER=694800&KIND=A5&T=1

[Skycoastin Steve]

Most of my rides on all B&M hypers have been of the stapled variety. I got away with one "loose' ride on Apollo last year in the back row and feared for my life on the final ravine drop. It's easy to see why getting stapled is rather important on those particular coasters.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

When I rode Behemoth, I remembered that despite being stapled hard, I still felt the amazing B&M airtime. Because it was also my first hyper, I was still freaking out about what would happen if anything failed. (Then again, that was before I knew much about coasters)

 

Not even sure if I should do a loose ride on Diamondback in July, especially if I ride back row.

[the ghost]

This is rather interesting. I have only ridden one B&M Hyper(Apollo) and have never ridden an Intamin Hyper, but Goliath at SFMM, a giovanola hyper has no seat belt from pictures I have seen. I also don't remember there being any seat belt, but it gives one HUGE moment of airtime, so it seems like it should have a safety bar.

[CorkscrewFoley]

Speaking of seatbelts, when i rode Villain back in '05, I had the seatbelt come undone and didn't even know it until we were on the brake run. It didn't bother me, matter of fact, I thought it was funny.

 

I have had the bouncing lap bar on a few coasters, by bouncing, I had a bit more looseness than i would care to have, but I was fine.

[B-RadG]

I can't imagine even trying to get out of B&M's Hyper seats. On Apollo's Chariot, even when I was younger/coaster-retarded, I felt safe. Now that I've found out the joy of airtime I've managed to get by with making myself look fat when the operator comes by so that they don't staple me and I have that lovely one click too high restraint.

[Retro_Gaga]

I personally think stapling on these rides is almost necessary. I rode Apollo during the summer in the back row with my restraint not stapled and the first drop was amazing as I floating but when we hit the twisting dive before the helix, I was really bounced around floating inbwtween the seat and the clamshell, I felt safe but it was a bit scary and now I see why stapling is done.

[Squid]

From my experience and what I have seen of the design of the clamshells, it is incredibly difficult to get out of the seat while riding, even if it's a bit loose. In order to get out, you would have to pull your legs up past your lower back to get them out, or to somehow get them out from the sides of the clamshell. I've never seen any of the B&M hypers launch with enough room for even a child to get their legs out from the sides of the clamshell.

 

(Personal experience only. Your mileage may vary, some settling may occur during shipping.)

 

The clamshell design works by forcing your thighs into a horizontal position. It really doesn't care where your waist or chest are... all it does is wedge your legs into the front of the seat. From there, you'd have to break your legs to get them out or be a master contortionist. Also, your feet are not touching the floor of the train so there's no place to gain traction from to lift yourself up.

 

Squid

[Angry_Gumball]

A different manufacturer of coasters, but on Arrow corkies (Like CGA's Demon) what exactly is the purpose of those retractable seat belts? They don't lock in place, they just retract (much like a car's seat belt that's not catching)...you could pull it out and have it spring back in throughout the ride. If the restraint were to magically pop open on the ride, the seat belt would also pull up as well.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

A different manufacturer of coasters, but on Arrow corkies (Like CGA's Demon) what exactly is the purpose of those retractable seat belts? They don't lock in place, they just retract (much like a car's seat belt that's not catching)...you could pull it out and have it spring back in throughout the ride. If the restraint were to magically pop open on the ride, the seat belt would also pull up as well.

 

I was thinking the same thing with Demon, Dragon Fyre, and The Bat etc. Why couldn't they just have mounted it the way B&M or Vekoma does. Like every purpose it's supposed to serve (other than pleasing insurance companies) is defeated due to the way they've installed them.

 

Pointless is what I'm getting at.

This way would serve the purpose better and also be more convenient.

[Pufferfish]

^^To answer your question on Arrow seat belts, if your restraint were to pop up, the seat belt can only extend about 6-7 inches meaning it would stop the harness from popping all the way up and thus keeping you under the harness. In other words, it works the exact same as one of B&M's seat belts, just it's stored inside the seat instead of on the outside.

[haiderodes]

What about the B&M flyers. They seem to have a different type of ratcheting system than the regular inverts do and of course no seat belt. Anyone know what some of the differences are between the two? I've always wondered.

 

B&M Flyers are unique. The lapbar portion of the harness locks into the armrest with a system similar to the Vekoma flyer lapbars. Additionally, there are sensors on each seat that identify if the harness is down far enough (hence all the rechecks all the time). This means that just because the harness has locked it doesn't necessarily mean its ok. Then as the seats rotate, a pin comes out near the top of the armrest near the first locking position. This works to prevent the harness from opening any further should something fail. This pin pretty ingenious as it is linked to the rotation of the seats so, in theory at least, you should never be able to open the harness when the seat is in the horizontal position. And of course the leg restraint which works in conjunction with the above.

 

I just love watching the loading and dispatching process of B&M Flyers. Its pretty complex, but remarkably simple in execution.

 

As for stand-ups. All the B&M versions got them after that incident on Shockwave at Kings Dominion. They serve the purpose to ensure the restraint is down far enough. Previously, at least on Riddler's Revenge, they required three clicks (the belts still allow for that).

[jjeerr]

I'm actually glad for the seatbelts B&M loopers because of one experience I had on Vortex at California's Great America. Me and my cousin were just going on another ride on Vortex. When we got on and the ride-op locked the seats the seats were locked, but the restraint wasn't. Both of our restraints were loose! We told the restraint checker that these restraints were loose, but he said, "It's alright... don't worry about it." So the ride started with the restraints loose and the only thing holding us in were the seatbelts. It was one of the scariest rides of my life. Thank God for those seatbelts!

 

 

If you are small, there's a good chance that you are below the "maximum tightness" of the restraint. On stand-up rides, this is more apparent, because of the way you....stand up.