Cmbgo12 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I've always been interested in Chinese rollercoaster companies, and for the most part the only one that seems to not be complete crap has always seemed to be Golden Horse. Of course I can't say for sure being that I've never actually been to China. So what are your opinions on Golden Horse, could they possibly be the next Vekoma... Or are they doomed to be written off as Chinese garbage? Keep in mind that Golden Horse has dramatically improved since their Space Car days. 2002->Space Car 2014-> Moterbike Roller Coaster (Zamperla Moterbike Rip-off) Link to their website: http://goldenhorserides.com/zh-CN/index.html (Google Translate recommended) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 They can't be the next Vekoma. If I have to choose between the four biggest manufacturers in China, I think Jiuhua or Shibaolai is the one. Golden Horse and Zhongye hasn't don't anything new so far and Golden Horse has the worst manufacturing facilities among the four companies. During an interview, Golden Horse's CEO said they are comfortable with what they make now but their own design "will come". Somehow I get the feeling that they aren't interested in doing something new, the 16 Inversion Coaster and Eye Loop is just them using two great designs to get back to Zamperla. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmbgo12 Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 Hmm, I have to disagree with you saying they aren't doing anything new... On their website they have a B&M Flying clone that looks pretty well done. And while they might not have the best facilities their quality seems to be much better than any other Chinese company Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Hmm, I have to disagree with you saying they aren't doing anything new... On their website they have a B&M Flying clone that looks pretty well done. And while they might not have the best facilities their quality seems to be much better than any other Chinese company To me, this is like saying it's better to be hit in the head with a hammer as opposed to a monkey wrench. Still, their mine-train style coasters are OK, even if their SLC knockoffs make Vekoma's originals seem buttery smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 There is no such thing as the "best" in that category Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 There is no such thing as the "best" in that category Agree! They are all horrible. Hmm, I have to disagree with you saying they aren't doing anything new... On their website they have a B&M Flying clone that looks pretty well done. And while they might not have the best facilities their quality seems to be much better than any other Chinese company Sure, they can put an Expedition GeForce clone and an El Toro clone on their website. But they don't have anything completely designed by themselves. Even if they have, nobody bought them yet. Before their own design opened, I would remain a Golden Horse hater and say Camiel made a big mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I didn't even realize there were other companies besides Golden Horse in China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Weren't Vekoma MK-1200 looping coasters essentially Arrow knockoffs themselves? I mean, look at Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis. Before I did my research, I always thought that Ninja at Six Flags Over Georgia was the Vekoma and the one at SFSTL was an Arrow. Ninja at SFOG had the Vekoma support structure and the weird double loop thing that Arrow never had, so its kind of a giveaway that it's not an Arrow, but the SFSTL one? That one is a dead ringer for a classic Arrow looper, the same support latticework, the same kind of inversions that Anaconda at KD has...Loop, Immelmann, double corkscrew and overall looks like an Arrow... It almost seems like it wasn't until recently that Vekoma came into their own and did their own thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 ^Define "recently." Vekoma has been building original designs for quite some time, now. While I understand your point that companies can begin by "copying" the designs of others, Golden Horse is really just a "clone" factory of other company's designs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Then again, it was the 1980s where Vekoma thought up of the boomerang coaster...Arrow never did anything like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 There's a difference between building rides inspired by other manufacturers using your own techniques and systems and sending people to go take photos of other people's rides and vehicles so you can make duplicates of everything they did in a country where patent and trademark law is often totally ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 ^ It's not ignored, the law is there but those manufacturers would put their dignity aside and copy the others instead of use a little more brain to create their own system. Manufacturers just need to make a little change from the original model and they wouldn't be considered copy by the law. If China just cut the knock-off business completely, a huge amount of people will lose their jobs. So now the government is pushing the process step by step. It might take a while but it will get better. A park that will live long certainly know the importance of building quality rides, those full of Golden Horse rides will be eliminated from the competition anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shavethewhales Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 There is no such thing as the "best" in that category There's a difference between building rides inspired by other manufacturers using your own techniques and systems and sending people to go take photos of other people's rides and vehicles so you can make duplicates of everything they did in a country where patent and trademark law is often totally ignored. My thoughts exactly. The issue of Chinese rip-offs in all industries is a huge discussion that I'll try to abstain from getting too far into here, but let me just say that at the end of the day there's simply no justification for it. A lot of Chinese industry would be in a better place by now if they had focused on finding their own ways to meet needs rather than just copying westerners. I mean, I wouldn't even be upset about it if they just came up with their own layouts and styling. At least have the grace to make a few adjustments so it's technically a new design. All of these rides are straight up thoughtless photocopies. I think they are naive if they think this attitude will someday lead to them producing good designs of their own in the future. They care more about making it look like a western product than building something that actually performs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 ^ I totally agree! Golden Horse said they don't have what it takes to design their own new products. But I really think they are just making excuse for being lazy. They made it sound like all the great designers in the past have super advanced technology. When their new coasters are even worse than 1975 Arrow Corkscrews, they need to find ways to improve their own product and start their own designs instead of making the same mistake over and over. Japanese companies found a better way than Chinese companies, they make identical rides at first then they start to push their own limit to make original rides. Chinese companies just get comfortable too easily. They don't have employees that are truly enthusiastic about designing and their designers lacks creativity thanks to the education system. I think this is a chain effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmbgo12 Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 Hmm, unfortunately this seems to have become an argument on how Chinese companies copy other coaster companies... We all know they do, and most of us agree its wrong. However what I was getting at with this thread was weather or not Golden Horse was better quality, or had more potential compared to other Chinese manufacturers. I mean some of their rides actually look decent so I wanted to know if anyone on this site had any opinions on some of Golden Horses rides, not on their, umm... "design techniques"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 ^Most of the Golden Horse rides I've ridden in China were, well, pretty bad--rough, clunky, and uncomfortable. As I said earlier, their version of an SLC makes Vekoma's seem buttery smooth. They spinning-mouse rides, well, don't spin. Their mine trains are OK, at best, and there might be a little potential here (the parks tend to theme them well). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iloveblueberries Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Everything in and from china is bootleg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmbgo12 Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 ^^This is exactly what I was hoping to get out of this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 I have only ridden a Golden Horse Loop-Screw, and it was, you know, 'fine.' I guess the odd part is that while the cosater was only 4 years old, it felt like something that came out of the '80's. The transitions were clunky, the layout completely uninspired, and it was a bit jerky (though nothing too crazy.) Aaaaand I just RCDB'ed it and apparently it's not Golden Horse, it's "Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipment." So I guess for what it's worth I thought their coasters were pretty dated by design. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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