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Aug 9, 2017
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For the longest time, I've hated on Verbolten for being a poor replacement for the Big Bad Wolf. I've received many an Eye-Roll for my comments. But now, my ire has shifted to the manufacturers, who won't make a new suspended fully swinging coaster and insist that a rigidly mounted inverted coaster is an acceptable substitute. Even worse, some manufacturers call non-swinging coasters suspended instead of inverted. They are all lowering the bar. Nothing flows like a suspended swinging coaster. A non-swinging inverted coaster will always deliver a lesser experience, unless it does something that would be impossible with swinging, like an inversion, wave turn, or tight clearance near-miss. Why do manufacturers do it? Because it's cheaper and more reliable?

I'm just sad the world will never see the likes of an Eagle Fortress or Big Bad Wolf again.
 
Pretty sure that was due to the one and only Skytrak ride at the Granada Studios Park in Manchester since the design is comparable and Chris Sawyer is from the UK.

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The TL:DR version I’ve heard is that the stresses swinging puts on a track is excessive, would need to be overengineered, to the point where other options are far more cost effective.
This would make sense. That's a lot of torsional stress every time it swings out.
 
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Surely the Vekoma Vampire trains would be lighter than the original Arrow trains? Side note: The Vampire trains look a lot like the Dragonflier trains except they fully swing, right?
 
I've come to accept B&M's non-swinging vehicles for BGW 2025, but the East Coast needs a suspended swinging coaster again. I now want to see Six Cedar Flags Fair work with S&S / Vekoma to make a new suspended coaster, and build it either at KD or SFA (maybe Gadv). For KD, I'd like to see it replace Anaconda, and for SFA, maybe it could replace Penguin's Blizzard River or the closed-off Whistlestop Park area.
 
Vampire's trains do not fully swing and the swing is partially controlled. Vampire's swinging is noticeably weaker than Bat/Vortex/BBW. Those trains are the precursor to the modern Vekoma design.

Suspended coasters are outdated and you probably won't see a proper one built anytime soon. It would be nice for them to make a comeback, but I don't see it happening when you consider the shelf life of the original suspended coasters.

The closest you'll probably get is Flying Turns and that's a heavily outdated model as well.
 
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So I guess zipline coasters will be the closest thing that manufacturers will do new? But I don't count alpine coasters as credits (of which zipline coasters are a subset).
 
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I think they should name this ride "Der Wolf Coaster". It brings back nostalgia for the original, adds a German flair, and also inherently admits this is the generic, off brand replacement for the original. "Der Wolf" rolls off the tongue. Is it a great name? No. Is it perfectly fitting for the coaster? Yessiry Bob.
Expanding my rant here. While B&M is not an off-brand, the B&M family invert sure feels like the off-brand version of the Vekoma SFC. I do not see how B&M's stiff mount design is supposed to deliver a superior ride experience to Vekoma's sway mount design.

Wow-- Vekoma's new sizzle reel is really impressive:

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0:19 - 0:21 shows the sway of the SFC.

Do the STCs have appreciable sway, or are they more like the SLC?
 
Do the STCs have appreciable sway, or are they more like the SLC?
If they do, it’s probably not as noticeable just due to the much more thrilling and extreme motions that model does. Also, here’s a great view of the SFC swaying motion. Did some digging (thanks RCDB!) and found it especially prominent on the sfcs that pull into the station with a nice head of speed. Shown below is Dragonflier.

IMG_9703.png
Shock absorbers/pistons shown above
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Sway shown as train banks into the station^
IMG_0475.jpeg
Zoomed in view of said sway^
 
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