Best & Worst Restraints

[SLC Headache]

With the tragic confirmation of the Comfort Collars on West Coast Racers

I might as well post this topic.

Best: RMC second generation. A lap bar with grip handles is the best of both worlds. Free and relatively open when you want it, but the grip is far enough down that it actually helps steady your body through quick lateral transitions.

Worst: Premier comfort collars. Who was the genius behind them? Even the B&M vests weren't this heavy. They're especially dumb on the Sky Rocket II, since there's minimal laterals. Already, West Coast Racers has fallen behind because of this horrid restraint system.

 

[SLC Headache]

I was thinking of voting for the PTC buzz bars - but I had to disqualify them, since they pretty much don't restrain the rider. I'd have to rank the PTC individual bars highly too, since I'm skinny enough that they don't staple me. If the seatbelt isn't the automatically retracting kind, I can get some decent airtime.

Also, thanks for reminding me of how awkward Pony Express was at Knott's.

 

[warfelg]

Best: B&M Clamshell.

Worst:

 

[SLC Headache]

I guess it's all about the ride intensity too. B&M's hyper seating is great, because most B&M hypers don't feature quick transitions. Even Fury's transitions paled in comparison to Intamin and RMC transitions. B&M's vests are overkill, because GateKeeper and Valravn also don't feature quick transitions.

Verbolten is one of the few rides where I'd like some extra restraints. It's completely free and open above the waist, but it has some pretty snappy transitions, that go straight to the spine since there's nothing to help you brace against those laterals.

 

[madmax]

Best: Intamin clamshell (Taron, Hyperion, etc)

Worst: Old SLC OTSRs

 

[Gavin]

Best-Pretty much any lap bar, buzz bar, or clamshell style restraint with or without a seatbelt. I’ve yet to find one that I didn’t like. This doesn’t include Premier with their comfort collars though.

Worst-Huss Suspended Top Spin. Who in their right mind thought it would be a good idea to put a spike over people’s crotches on a ride that forces you into the restraint? Thank God they don’t build them anymore.

 

[halfabee]

Having just ridden Phoenix two days ago... yeah, buzz bars.

Love a LOT about the B&M clamshell design. Brilliant. My favorite modern system.

 

[SLC Headache]

I have to say that [West Coast Racers getting comfort collars] is a disturbing turn of events. I'm not sure why SixFlags has opted to install these since they already have several Premier coasters with inversions that are lap-bar only. I'm afraid that SixFlags saw them on SEAS installations and requested them. If the parks are going to start getting scared and asking for unnecessary comfort collars, I think that Premier is going to have to go to the drawing board and redesign their trains to give the parks what they want, but in a much more comfortable to ride design that doesn't impact load times like the current "solution."

On top of the fact that SixFlags Magic Mountain already has an inverting Premier Launch coaster with lapbar only restraints, they just did extensive work on their old Schwarzkopf looper, Revolution, to remove OTSR and replace them with lapbars. This is really unfathomable and SEAS really owes the community an apology for this series of events.

A little research, and it reveals that Tempesto was where the comfort collars debuted, that BGW requested them in the first place, and that they don't actually do much safety restraining.

Seeing these abominations spread outside SWP&E, I now feel especially sorry for Tempesto, as it is the Patient Zero of this plague. Between Comfort Collars, and building two more Drachen Fires worth of forcing unproven manufacturers to build bigger and more intense than they ever had before, BGW really was in a dark age, and only InvadR was the glimmer of light.

 

[b.mac]

It's either comfort collars or seatbelts, and I'm pretty sure California had a say in the matter as well.

 

[Shane]

Yes. The origin of comfort collars are discussed at length in the Tempesto thread, this was established a long time ago. I even mentioned SEAS special requesting them in my post. SEAS = SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Busch Gardens Williamsburgs parent company. Hence why in my post I state that SEAS owes the entire industry an apology.

 

[SLC Headache]

It's either comfort collars or seatbelts, and I'm pretty sure California had a say in the matter as well.

Seatbelts would have been more appropriate for West Coast Racers, especially considering the ride vehicles...

 

[Shane]

Perhaps this discussion should be moved to the correct thread that is actually about West Coast Racer.

 

[SLC Headache]

^Eh, it was a remark about the restraints themselves, not so much the ride.

 

[Shane]

Considering your initial purpose of this thread seems to be for people to rank their opinions on the best or worst restraint experience I disagree.

I don't think we should suddenly be forced to put all discussions regarding restraints in this one particular thread. My comments were specifically about West Coast Racer and how SixFlags decision to add comfort collars to West Coast Racer may have a ripple effect on the industry as a whole in the future, therefore my commentary on the topic was in that thread.

 

[SLC Headache]

...Yeah, maybe my thread has drifted a bit. Trying to get it back...

Among flats, Mach Tower's restraints are pretty bad. As Skyrush crushed your thighs, Mach Tower's crushed my arms a bit. Top Spins just go for the crotch, and are tied with Mach Tower as my worst. Not even B&M Stand-Up trains did as much to my crotch as Top Spin restraints did.

Best would be Screamin' Swings. Their lap bar doesn't staple, enabling them to deliver airtime that spinning pendulum rides can't.

 

[warfelg]

As for the buzz bars and the restraints on Bolt:
I love them. Even as someone with a bad back. They offer a freedom that not many coasters offer in their restraints anymore. They have become so lock down, make sure you don’t move, that it’s taken away the enjoyment of the ride.

 

[Zimmy]

Can we discuss the restraints on Shockwave and Berserker for a moment? I can not think of two worse systems. Shockwave was some kind of weird masochistic torture device and Berserker tries to crush you.

 

[SLC Headache]

As for the buzz bars and the restraints on Bolt:
I love them. Even as someone with a bad back. They offer a freedom that not many coasters offer in their restraints anymore. They have become so lock down, make sure you don’t move, that it’s taken away the enjoyment of the ride.

Big difference between those lap bars.

PTC and B&M, among others, don't staple - unless you're bigger / the park insists, and the ride op has to shove that thing down on you. With total freedom from not being stapled, you're thrown around with the ride, and able to experience floater airtime. B&M hypers are only "Boring And Mild" if you're stapled.

Zierer, RMC, GCI, Intamin, and the like, staple. Airtime is diminished and laterals are magnified - which is why GCI usually prioritizes laterals over airtime, and why RMC and Intamin go straight for ejector airtime. With these, a well-placed grip makes all the difference.

I'll gladly take the "near-Skyrush" stapling Impulse gave me, over Comfort Collars!(TM), in terms of giving me a sense of security through inversions.

Can we discuss the restraints on Shockwave and Berserker for a moment? I can not think of two worse systems. Shockwave was some kind of weird masochistic torture device and Berserker tries to crush you.

Wasn't around for Shockwave. Was it worse than the B&M stand-up train?

...If I had to choose between Comfort Collars and the Intamin Looping Starship restraints for reassuring riders that they won't fall out, this might be the one time I would take Comfort Collars.

 

[warfelg]

I love GCIs lap bats to be honest. Same with Zierer and Mack. Like I said, they give me the right amount of freedom. Intamin is usually good.

Skyrush is a design flaw in the Park did not want OTSRs to intensify the free feeling, and because the the wing seats there was no way to put them under seat mounted. So they had to put them coming down from over top.

S&S did a very similar system in their recent inverted coasters, but the seats are more “form fitting” than Skyrush’s seats, so the bar isn’t pinning you in, but rather holding you down.

Personally I hate RMCs but it’s more to do with the shin restraints and seat positioning than the bar itself.

 

[I305Evan]

Wasn't around for Shockwave. Was it worse than the B&M stand-up train?

I've never really thought about this before, but I would say Shockwave's were better. The OSTR portion is too bulky on the B&M's which makes looking around more difficult than Shockwaves. However, both were equally uncomfortable. Shockwave had more steps to the restraint system.