A good swift kick in the crotch...

...for the designer of the Millennium Force lap bar, and for the presumably merely ignorant* attendant who smashed me yesterday. Hey, if it weren't for the support pole on the bottom of that lap bar, I'd have put the bar down lower than he did myself.

I guess it's time to reiterate, now that I've lost just a pound or two: For some riders, it is quite possible for the lap bar to be touching the body without the lap bar pad touching either the thighs or the stomach. And when that is the case, lowering the bar any further can result in varying degrees of unpleasantness, depending on the exact positions of the various bits of 'hardware' when it gets pinched/smashed. Anywhere away from the ride, that would be considered "assault".

*At least I hope that's the explanation. Because if he knew, then he was just being a cruel SOB.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Did you notice the change in the bar on Xcelerator? It isn't just a straight post, it's bent. You couldn't get one leg around it, but it certainly wouldn't nail you in the giggleberries every time some over-zealous ride op pushes down on you.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

I haven't seen a photo of that part of Xcelerator. From the reviews I've read about the ride, though, such a change has got to be a good thing.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Although I didn't notice the new lapbar design, I do know that the way that they were stapling on Xcelerator during the Con, something changed. Check out this pic on westcoaster.net for a nice shot of the seats.

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Scott W. Short, Rail Junkie
mailto:scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

Yeah, I think it's great Intamin redesigned the bars. I noticed those on Goliath at SFH as well. I hope they replace the ones on MF later with these new ones.

When they lean into it, not just push down I do think it's grounds for assault ;). There were a couple of them doing that earlier this year. There methods of checking was to grab the bar and push down with all their body weight yet never pull up to see if it was locked.

I have a serious pet peeve with ops that insist on pushing down, BUT NEGLECT TO PULL UP! What the heck good does that do!? :) You are supposed to be checking to make sure the bar is locked in a down position, and thus, pulling up is certainly a must!

Here's a great method for checking a lapbar in almost all cases: visually look to see if the rider is trying to do something shady to get more room such as slouching down, raising ankles, putting their hand in there, etc. If not, simply PULL UP! It is rarely necessary to push down on someone's bar at all. Did I do it? Yes, but only when I felt that people were trying to be shady and get tons of extra room. I knew it wasn't fun to be stapled so I never stapled anyone unless they were asking for it, either for real or by doing something that I felt was not kosher.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

I was at MA yesterday and rode Woverine Wildcat sitting on the belt and ST with about a foot of loose belt and a VERY high lap bar!

I don't think the Ops there even know what stapled even means. Don't tell 'em!

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

First off, who are you anyway, Jim Trafficant? (Sorry, that just had to be done. Kick me in the crotch for that one...)

I never understood why ops insisted on pushing the bar down into my body (probably because I had already done it to myself) rather than grabbing the handle and tugging it towards them. (Matt seems to have the idea here...)

Personally, that's why I thought B&M and Intamin built handles into their lap bars, instead of onto the front of the train body. (Arrow) Sure, it gives the rider something to hold onto, but, more importantly, it seems easier for the ops to grab the bars and tug them outward, rather than inward.

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-Matt (Czar of the ever-reworking Loopscrew.com & proponent of campy Demon theme song! VIVA!)

Really, I'd like to take a steel pole and beat the guy who made the ratcheting lap bars on Magnum. Take the post and beat them on the upper thigh. Because of my "body structure", I was somewhere between two different settings. I'd either get stapled in by a ride op, or the ride itself would staple me in at the bottom of the first drop!

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Tommy Penner - Variable X
"And that's why I'm a coaster enthusiast." -- Dude behind me on MF.

Cross your legs, that raises your thighs and prevents that from happening.

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June 28th: LocoBazooka Tour (Sevendust headlining)
July 11th: Korn, Puddle of Mudd, and Deadsy

Yes, that, or just hold on to the lap bar to keep it from clicking that extra time at the bottom of the drop.

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Michael McCormack CP '02: 25
Magnum XL 200: 191 (316)
Millennium Force: 6
Wicked Twister: 24

I did that a few times and kept it from stapling me, but it kinda kept me from having fun. I'd be preoccupied with being stapled in. At the end of my mini-marathon (10 laps) I just stopped caring really.

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Tommy Penner - Variable X
"And that's why I'm a coaster enthusiast." -- Dude behind me on MF.

---

MiLLeNNiuMRiDeR said:
Really, I'd like to take a steel pole and beat the guy who made the ratcheting lap bars on Magnum. Take the post and beat them on the upper thigh. Because of my "body structure", I was somewhere between two different settings. I'd either get stapled in by a ride op, or the ride itself would staple me in at the bottom of the first drop!

---

Me too. Exactly that every time I road this year. The ride stapled so hard once this year that I had a bruise the size of a softball on my thigh.

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I fool so feelish...

What, Magnum's bars can still lock after you roll out of the station? If so, no! I hate rides like that because it hurts so bad when they stapled you in. It kinda ruins the experiance for me...:(

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If you like riding Wicked Twister in the back, does that mean you like to get screwed in the rear?

Huh? I think that just about every coaster I've ever been on can "lock" once you are out of the station. Some people pull the restraints down tighter when the ride is in motion because they are scared. This is true on every coaster - Raptor, MF, WT, etc...

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

One Word

OOOUCH!

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Wicked Twister Rocks

Get To The Po!nt My Website
Evan H., Webmaster, GetToThePo!nt

It's things like this that make me very happy to be a woman.

Now...wanna talk about being stapled in an OSTR when you are a female with a plentiful chest??

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

Maybe.... ;)

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Tommy Penner - Variable X
"And that's why I'm a coaster enthusiast." -- Dude behind me on MF.

It's all equalled out then! Restraint designers made it equally as painful for both men and women. Ever noticed how B&M stand-up restraints feature both a crotch killer and chest crusher? Yea, thats a combination! ;)

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If you like riding Wicked Twister in the back, does that mean you like to get screwed in the rear?

I have had very little problem with being stapled at CP, but I hate it when it does happen. Last year, some guy pushed in my restraint so hard on Raptor that I literally could not get a good breath because it was crushing my chest. I just returned from Hersheypark, and the situation there was the ride op would either only do a visual inspection and not even tug the restraint, or they would staple you hard. By the end of my second day, I was perfectly happy with checking my own bar as long as the ride ops didn't touch it.

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-Chris Woodard
Just because you can't justify charging $3 for a Pepsi doesn't mean you can't charge $3 for a Pepsi.