Which Coaster Is Smoother?

[pgathriller]

Which type of roller coaster is smoother? Intamin or B&M? I think B&M Coasters are smoother than Intamin.

[Blazen_AZN]

B&M, probably, they're just known for smoothness.

 

Alot of Intamins can get rough[er] , get speed rattle and the sort.

 

but intamin is also older, i mean, if you include rides like intamin's flashback at SFMM, B&M easily wins

[DRWP2005]

I think B&M's they are engineeried better I think. They figure out the G-Force at about every cross tie, which is roughly every 4 feet on a B&M, so I think that is the reason they are so smooth.

[ParkTrips]

Are you kidding me? They both use the same technology and are both pretty smooth with a bit of roughness in some of their older models. IMHO this is a pretty pointless thread :?

[benzo41190]

It really depends. First what kind a coaster are we talking about? Hyper, looping, ect.

 

But I have ridden many Bad B&M's and many Bad Intamins. I mean I would have to say that B&M has more coaters out there that are smooth but I mean it all depends.

[socalMAN123]

Well, B&M is pretty much known in the coaster community for smooth coasters with lots of forces. But, many people have been on bad B&Ms. For me, Silver Bullet.

---Brent 8)

[Real]

In terms of track smoothness in reference to the mathematical calculations I would say they are equal. Both are nearly as perfect as they can be made.

 

What makes a ride smooth or rough is the trains and wheel assemblies. That award IMO goes to B&M excluding some horrible trains ala Mantis/Standup trains which are horrid. They rattle more than SROS @ SFA

 

 

They just have better and longer lasting suspensions and shocks with an overall better design for comfort. Intamins though tend to be a bit more roomy and more freedom. But hey, thats the tradeoff when you go from 2 wide seating to 4.

[Immel Man]

I think the biggest difference is that Intamins tend to vibrate at high speeds while B&M's are usually smooth at almost any speed. I always get that "solid" feel when I ride B&M's that I don't really feel on Intamins. It's kind of like driving a well made car compared to one with lots of squeaks and rattles.

 

I believe they both use spring-loaded wheel assemblies that can pivot independently from the train in small incriments but, B&M's are just made with a higher quality as shown by their slightly smoother ride across all speeds.

[CoasterCrazy]

They are about the same, both of the companies make smooth coasters and both of them have older coasters that are somewhat rough.

[MF310ryb]

Generally B&M's are smoother at the same time Intamin's are smooth. Both companies design their rides great. I also think the smoothness depends more on the style of the train and how the wheels interact with the transitions. Also didn't B&M work for Intamin before branching out onto their own?

[Immel Man]

^B&M did work for Intamin up until they built Iron Wolf, but Intamin didn't develop their own similar track-to-wheel assembly setup until several years after.

Edited November 2, 2005 by Immel Man

[peteb]

Stengel Engineering is involved in force and structural analysis for both of them so I doubt you'll ever see a rough coaster from either.

[Immel Man]

Didn't Stengel design Son of Beast?

[peteb]

From what I have read Stengel was brought in to do the engineering work on the loop which is apparently the only smooth part of the ride, the rest is RCCA's work.

[viking86]

If you look at SoB and other RCCA woodies that Stengel have been involved in, you will see that the transitions and trackshaping is pretty much perfect and those coasters would be very smooth if they were made of steel. So the track calculations have nothing to do with those coasters being rough.

[peteb]

Wood coasters really depend on the quality of the wood track construction (and maintenance) which is just so variable unlike steel. And then there's the rolling stock choices. That's probably why Stengel developed the new track technology that Intamin uses (Stengel has the patent application for this).

[Fry]

B&Ms seem to stay smoother, Intamins can get rough over time (look at Colossus at Thorpe, or Shockwave at Drayton).

 

Though, when the ride first opens, they're pretty level.

[coasters 4 me]

I have never been on an Intamin (Unlucky for me, I really want to go on one) so all I can say is that I havent had a bad B&M yet.

[verticalzero]

B&M coasters have the smoothest ride.

[coasterguy618]

Hmmmm.....I'll have to say B&M. Intamin has some slighty rough coasters, from what I've heard, Colossus is pretty rough, and Kingda Ka is rough in the back.

 

B&M still has some rough coasters though, like Mantis.

 

--Gaven

[Pelydr]

Probably B&M ( except for their Stand ups?). But I still would rather ride an Intamin.

[SonOfBeastSucks]

I have never been on a rough Intamin, but I have been on some rough B&Ms. However, the smooth B&Ms I have been on left me with the feeling of "Wow, that was extremely smooth!". But I have never had that thought on an Intamin. While smooth, Intamins are just not *as smooth* as the smooth B&Ms. On the other hand, I find B&Ms to get rough in older age. I think Iron Wolf and BTR at SFGAm are both fairly rough after the 10+ years they have been around. But the newer B&Ms are very smooth. But Intamin also has some examples of rough rides (I have never heard a good comment about SFMM Flashback). But, in recent years, the new Intamins that have been created are much more smooth than the coasters that they used to construct and I don't have any example of one of the recent Intamin coasters to be in *old age*. Now that I have gone on long enough, in the end, winning just slightly, I would say B&M.

[DonkeyBreath]

Imo I think it all depends on the parks maintence take B:TR for instance it can be a very smooth intense ride, but if it's in need of a rehab it can be down right rough. Just like SROS at SFNE in 2003 I rode it and it rattled like crazy, I went again in 2004 and it was very smooth. So Imo it's up to the parks maintence to keep it as smooth as when the ride first opened.

 

Also I don't think Intamin can be blamed for Flashback since it's not their ride they just sold it, it's actually manufactured by Giovanola.

 

I've also ridden Colossus and I didn't find it rough at all, I thought it was actually pretty amazing and imo 100% better then a B&M looper. Again I believe the reports of roughness is because the park isn't maintaining it like they should.

 

So imo if the parks are rehabing like they should then you should not get a rough ride from an B&M or Intamin.