The B&M Rattle Directory

[GwaziBSRider1]

Research is updated with new percentages. Again, what is not shown on the list on the first post doesn't have enough data. The only coaster that I have no data for is Family Inverted Coaster at Happy Valley Shanghai. Thanks again to all of those who have submitted data. My research will continue!

[coasterbill]

GateKeeper - 67%

 

67% of people are smoking the good stuff. This might be the smoothest coaster I've ever ridden.

[GwaziBSRider1]

^ I personally agree. I love that ride and find it as smooth as MF.

[K1ngdaKa88]

I was feeling a bit of rattle on Heide Park's new Wing Coaster Flug der Dämonen. There it is rattling in the pretzel.

[Rotura Violenta]

Scream is the one that gets cited as having "rattle" but I've yet to experience it myself (and I've probably rode it 30+ time). I suspect that I just don't know what I'm looking for though as I find a number of B&Ms to have rough-ish spots. I'm one of the few here that thinks Scream is actually one of the better rides at SFMM as I'm not a fan of Riddler or Tatsu. But I've also ridden the B&Ms on the East Coast and I can't think of what this rattle could really be.

[coasterbill]

Scream is the one that gets cited as having "rattle" but I've yet to experience it myself (and I've probably rode it 30+ time). I suspect that I just don't know what I'm looking for though as I find a number of B&Ms to have rough-ish spots. I'm one of the few here that thinks Scream is actually one of the better rides at SFMM as I'm not a fan of Riddler or Tatsu. But I've also ridden the B&Ms on the East Coast and I can't think of what this rattle could really be.

 

I don't see the problem with Scream either other than the fact that it's built on a parking lot. I enjoyed the ride quite a bit.

[GwaziBSRider1]

When I rode Scream, it rattled a lot, but the rattle doesn't bother me. It's still a fun ride.

 

EDIT: I've updated the results once again, and the results were fairly surprising. I've received more reports of smooth rides, which has brought most of the percentages down to a reasonable level. Some drastic examples would be Kraken, Scream, and Incredible Hulk. A few rides rose in rattle percentages, however, like Hydra and Kumba. Also, Hair Raiser became the first consistently reported ride with enough data to justify it. Keep the data coming, and thanks again for everyone who has participated!

[Ed Farmer]

This B&M rattle trend of discussion has gone too far. Nylon/polyurethane wheels as they wear down, get warm, cool off, or sit in one place for a long time are going to affect the smoothness of a ride. An empty versus full train is also going to affect smoothness. There are a variety of factors at work. Some the park can control, some the park can't.

 

A great example of this is GateKeeper. A warm mid-season day, where the trains are full and wheels are running constantly with daily operation, will give way to glass smooth rides in any seat. You ride in a half-full train on a chilly Friday night during HalloWeekends after GK sat most of the week with few cycles since last Sunday, and you will feel the difference.

 

Some B&Ms, like stand-ups run on the rougher side, but in general you can rely on 95% of them or more to give a comfortable ride. Also, to not expect some small vibrations when a huge amount of different forces are exerted on the train is pretty ignorant. Unless you have all brand new wheels in perfect weather, expect to feel some personality to each coaster from every manufacturer.

Truth.

 

It reminds me of the time I got this Osaki OS-4000T Massage Reclining Chair. By the end of the week I was so fed up with how relaxing and comfortable it was that I had to set it on fire and throw it out the window.

My biggest qualm was that there were only 14 air bags for me to rest my feet on instead of 16.

 

"B&M Rattle" is one of the more ridiculous and hilarious things in all of coasterdom.

[rcjp]

^True. Naturally one or two rides won't be so smooth but it's interesting how the only (that I know of) coaster manufacturer with a thread dedicated to its roughness/"rattleness" is the one which, overall, makes the smoothest coasters. I know this is not necessarily saying that they are rough (it's just an experiment out of curiosity) but it's still a bit odd.

[Rotura Violenta]

Just to clarify, when people say Scream "rattles a lot," what they essentially mean is that there are sections of the ride where it feels a little rough? Apocalypse has quite a rattle to it then, right? To me, Scream is very smooth throughout, but a ride like Tatsu get quite bumpy when it hits the bottom of that pretzel loop. So, by definition, Tatsu would have more of a rattle?

[GwaziBSRider1]

I have to admit, my intentions with this have changed since I've looked at my numbers. Even though it may sound like it, I've never considered the rattle to be a serious problem (Yes, I know it's caused by a variety of reasons), but I noticed so many people complaining about it that I wanted to compile a list of rattlers vs. non-rattlers. I actually expected certain coasters to have high percentages of rattle complaints, but many of these have been much lower than I expected. Now, all of these numbers are a somewhat scientific way of showing the people who DO believe in this rattle that it really doesn't exist. B&M is my favorite manufacturer, even with their new "forceless" coasters, and this study is an extension of my love of their products.

 

Again, none of my results can guaranteed to be 100% accurate and there are many sources of error. This study was NEVER meant to be a definite proof of anything, just an interesting observation with the help of my fellow enthusiasts. If I were truly 100% serious about scientifically proving or disproving this, there's no way I could pull it off without years of trials and dozens of laps on each B&M coaster.

 

Also, hating on my study won't stop my research, although it has influenced the shift in purpose. Once I finish sorting through all of my data, I'll close the survey, tally everything up, write up a report, and that will be it.

[willh51]

...and yet didn't people love Hair Raiser on a TPR trip?

 

I thought Batman at SFNE and Hydra had bad rattles in 2005, but Hydra was much better in 2007. I think it's the rolling stock.

[rcdude]

I did the survey earlier, and while doing it I realized a few things:

 

-Other than Banshee, I've rarely noticed the rattle on any B&M Inverts I've ridden

-Hyper coasters (especially those with the newer trains) and Floorless coasters seem to be most prone to the rattle

-It's hard for me to distinguish between a rattle and roughness when it comes to the stand-up coasters

-Some coasters (most notably flyers) will rattle in one specific spot and nowhere else, so I marked them as smooth

-Almost every non-inverted B&M that I've rode more than a couple times went into the sometimes rattle, sometimes smooth category

 

I'm really interested to see what the results end up being on this, as it seems that most B&Ms could be considered anywhere between glass smooth and strong rattle depending on a number of factors (conditions, other B&M experience, riding position/train, etc.). I'll be honest...out of 38 B&M coasters, there are maybe three that I thought had a bad enough rattle to negatively affect the ride, and since increasing forces will lead to increasing vibrations (and thus increasing rattle without train design adjustments), I don't see it as something to complain excessively about.

[larrygator]

...and yet didn't people love Hair Raiser on a TPR trip?

 

Yes, we did

[Mechanic]

I did the survey. It made me realize that there are a lot of B&M coasters I need to ride. I'm glad to have Flight Deck and Medusa close to home, although Medusa does get a bit of a rattle at times when it's due for maintenance. It's sometimes very noticeable from one train to another. I've never experienced Scream being any better or worse than Medusa in the rattle department, but it certainly has more of a reputation for it.

[mightypotato]

The rattle on Behemoth was really bad in 2013, but whatever work they did during that off season paid off as it was running great in 2014 with not much of a rattle to report. Leviathan is still glass smooth.

 

Those are the only two B&M's I'm able to ride with much regularity, sadly.

[tarheel1231]

Goliath at SFOG's rattle may not be consistently reported, but it's definitely there. With that said, it is still a great coaster.

[Superbatboy]

Riddler-Very light rattle

Scream-High rattle

Mantis-Very high rattle

Gatekeeper-Medium rattle at the bottom of first drop, no rattle otherwise

Banshee-Same as GateKeeper

Nitro-Light rattle

Batman-Tempermental mosty light to no rattle

Bizarro-Light rattle

Diamondback-High rattle in middle to back of train. No rattle in first two cars

Silver Bullet-No rattle

Tatsu-No rattle, then again the ride is very disorienting so hard to be accurate with this one

Green Lantern-Was very smooth the one time I rode it, no rattle

Raptor-Medium rattle

[mark549]

I did the survey. It made me realize that there are a lot of B&M coasters I need to ride. I'm glad to have Flight Deck and Medusa close to home, although Medusa does get a bit of a rattle at times when it's due for maintenance. It's sometimes very noticeable from one train to another. I've never experienced Scream being any better or worse than Medusa in the rattle department, but it certainly has more of a reputation for it.

 

 

Medusa had moderate rattle today (Nov. 25). Nothing terrible but the wheels felt like they were not new. It felt a bit like riding a bicycle when your tires are very low on air pressure. Maybe I'm just bored of Medusa at this point, I've probably got more rides on this than any other coaster. (I only rode the front and back rows today). Superman was great as always, very strange ride but fun. Roar was closed when I was there (in the afternoon). Too bad Rocky Mountain is building their ride in southern California instead of northern ...

 

I've not been on Flight Deck as much but I've never had a rattly ride on it, which is impressive given that it's the second (?) B&M ever built and so much better than Iron Wolf.

[gerstlaueringvar]

I just never get the "B&M makes the smoothest coasters in the world" hype, maybe this should be left in the 90's. None of the B&M coaster I've ridden really gets to the "smoothest coaster in the world" level.

[GwaziBSRider1]

Thanks again to everyone who has participated! With the upcoming holiday season, the initial posting will probably not be updated in favor of compiling my statistics for my final report.

 

Now, it's time for my appeal for data! There are 89 coasters in this survey, and I would love to be able to include all of them, but I need enough data for the results to be as accurate as possible. Here are the coasters that I REALLY need data for:

 

Batman la Fuga

Black Mamba

Crystal Wing

Daemonen

Diavlo

Diving Machine G5

Family Inverted Coaster

Flug der Damonen

Hollywood Dream

Insane Speed

Krake

Lightning

Monster

Nitro (Adlabs Imagica)

OzIris

Phaethon

Pyrenees

Raptor (Gardaland)

Sky Scrapper

 

If you've ridden any of these coasters and have not reported their rattles or lack there of to me, PLEASE fill out the survey! Thank you!

Edited November 28, 2014 by GwaziBSRider1

[Projektion]

Admittedly, it's been almost half a year since I rode them, so my memory might not be the best, but here we go. Dragon khan used to have a mild rattle to it, but it has since improved when the new trains were introduced, now it's more of a light rattle. Shambhala has a very light rattle to it, but it's practically non-existant. Generally, as long as you don't think about the rattle, you wouldn't feel it.

[DoinItForTheFame]

Just rode Great White several times this summer and did not notice any rattle.

[rcjp]

^^^Out of those I think batman la fuga is really smooth. I rode it recently (only running one train) after my last visit 7 years ago. 10 times on different places (front, back ,middle, . . .) and I never got any sort of rattle whatsoever.

I rode shambhala quite a few times on its opening year and once this year (in the 7th car) and based on my rides I still consider it the smoothest coaster I've ridden.

As to dragon khan, I would say closer to the back there might be "some" very very light rattling which is totally not enough to affect the experience in any way.

[coasterbill]

I've always believed that B&M inverts maintain their smoothness over time better than any other coaster type (besides Schwarzkopf coasters and well maintained wood coasters since their entire track can be replaced as part of routine maintenance). I've never experienced a rattle on any of them except Banshee but it has a different train than the rest of them. The only standard B&M invert I've ever ridden that's not perfectly smooth is Raptor but in my opinion the snappy transitions aren't painful at all and actually give the ride some personality. For this reason it's my favorite invert.

 

Batman the Ride (I've only ridden the ones at Great Adventure and Magic Mountain) is a perfect example of my theory that these rides stay ridiculously smooth for a really long time. While both parks have a ton of smooth rides, I think Batman is probably the smoothest ride in each park (though Goliath is worthy of mention at SFMM) and in each park it's also one of the older coasters in the lineup. It has insane transitions and fast paced, snappy elements but despite this both rides are ridiculously smooth. This is the case with every old-school invert I've ridden. They're just as smooth now as they were the day the opened. All B&M's are smooth but the inverts are on another level.