by Vitriola » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:54 am
Coaster Expert! wrote:Quote:
Just why are wooden roller coasters usually inherently regarded as superior to their average metal counterparts?
An excellent question! Thankfully, for you, Coaster Expert is here to give you the answer!
There are many reasons why wood is generally to be preferred over steel. Here are the most common reasons given, though:
1. Airtime. By the nature of their design (non-looping, lots of up-and-down action), the potential for airtime is normally much greater in your average woodie than in your average steelie, most of which tend to focus on *positive* G's (loops, helixes) than negative ones. Additionally, restraint systems on woodies tend to offer a lot more room for the airtime to lift your ass up into.
2. Unpredictability. On most of your steel coasters, you can ride it ten times and get pretty much an identical ride each time. Wooden coasters, with their organic nature, tend to offer much more variety in riding experience from one ride to the next.
3. Roughness/smoothness. Steel coasters have for the most part become dividing into two groups: the "really rough, jarring, and unpleasant" group, and the "smooth as glass" group. While there's something to be said for that silky-smooth perfection, it does tend to imbue a coaster with a sense of sterility. You might be going 80mph, but it doesn't really feel like it, because you could be performing brain surgery all the while. Wooden coasters (good ones, anyway), are right in the middle there. Not rough enough to be unpleasant, but not so smooth that you don't forget you're on an out-of-control train.
4. Woodies look much nicer.
5. Woodies smell much nicer. Not many smells can beat that of a freshly greased wooden track.
I got to ride this one finally with my sweetie yesterday!
It was much smoother than I thought it would be, although we did do this one AFTER the Wild Chipmunk, which was only slightly smoother than my last car accident. More pics of that and other shots of the Cyclone can be seen
here.
I didn't get much of the smell factor on this ride, but I can vouch for the rest of this review. Especially the amount of ass airtime I got.
[quote="Coaster Expert!"]Quote:
Just why are wooden roller coasters usually inherently regarded as superior to their average metal counterparts?
An excellent question! Thankfully, for you, Coaster Expert is here to give you the answer!
There are many reasons why wood is generally to be preferred over steel. Here are the most common reasons given, though:
1. Airtime. By the nature of their design (non-looping, lots of up-and-down action), the potential for airtime is normally much greater in your average woodie than in your average steelie, most of which tend to focus on *positive* G's (loops, helixes) than negative ones. Additionally, restraint systems on woodies tend to offer a lot more room for the airtime to lift your ass up into.
2. Unpredictability. On most of your steel coasters, you can ride it ten times and get pretty much an identical ride each time. Wooden coasters, with their organic nature, tend to offer much more variety in riding experience from one ride to the next.
3. Roughness/smoothness. Steel coasters have for the most part become dividing into two groups: the "really rough, jarring, and unpleasant" group, and the "smooth as glass" group. While there's something to be said for that silky-smooth perfection, it does tend to imbue a coaster with a sense of sterility. You might be going 80mph, but it doesn't really feel like it, because you could be performing brain surgery all the while. Wooden coasters (good ones, anyway), are right in the middle there. Not rough enough to be unpleasant, but not so smooth that you don't forget you're on an out-of-control train.
4. Woodies look much nicer.
5. Woodies smell much nicer. Not many smells can beat that of a freshly greased wooden track. [/quote]
I got to ride this one finally with my sweetie yesterday!
[img]http://www.themeparkreview.com/lakeside/flakesd.jpg[/img]
It was much smoother than I thought it would be, although we did do this one AFTER the Wild Chipmunk, which was only slightly smoother than my last car accident. More pics of that and other shots of the Cyclone can be seen [url=http://www.themeparkreview.com/lakeside/lakeside.htm]here[/url].
I didn't get much of the smell factor on this ride, but I can vouch for the rest of this review. Especially the amount of ass airtime I got.