Cedar Point 2013

The Pre-drop is used by B&M to reduce strain on the lift chain.
It may make its way on to the new coaster if the trains are as heavy as they look on winged-coasters.

There's no point. Wild Eagle doesn't have the slow disengage from the lift. The only reason X-Flight does is because they immediately turn the train over so it can dive.

I'm not a fan of the pre-drop. Especially on standups. The first time I rode in the back of Mantis, the predrop caused me to slam my head against the seat.

I never understood the logic of having the pre-drop to reduce strain on the chain. The chain is under the highest tension when the train is being pulled up the lift. As the train crests the top of the lift, the tension on the chain decreases in proportion to how much of the train is over the top. As the train starts speeding down the hill, the chain dog just ratchets over the top of the chain, basically zero strain on the chain. B&M maybe thought the fast ratcheting action maybe wears the chain dog prematurely, but I doubt strain on the chain is the reason.

I'd rather just a normal drop myself, no pre drop, plus I thought I read somewhere that B&M does not need the pre-drop anymore because they firgured out how to not have strain on the chain. Can't remember where I read that though. But yeah, seeing Wild Eagle and other newer B&M's not have the pre-drop they probably wouldn't do one unless doing the dive element.

Funny. I always thought they did it for no other reason than a sort-of "signature" on all their rides.

I agree with Pete completely. The dip I find hard to believe would cause ANY wear to the chain, as there is no stress on it when the train crests the hill. The only logical thing would be the dog wear as he stated bouncing over it.

I would imagine there is some other type of reasoning. Somebody should ask one of the B&M guys at some coaster event when they are present just to find out. They have eliminated them recently anyway, and may be anything from a "signature" to a legit reasoning, who knows!

I like the dips, though :)

I don't know if it would be possible with the height only at 170ft, but how about a spiraling vertical drop? Similar to the drop on TTD. Now that would be amazing on a wing coaster!

I was always thought they were only used on angled drops but like DSRPUNK said, they don't need them anymore.

Even OzIris, the newest inverted coaster doesn't have a pre drop.

http://www.rcdb.com/9675.htm?p=37944

Kevinj said:
Funny. I always thought they did it for no other reason than a sort-of "signature" on all their rides.

I thought that too. And @Maverickoo: I think that ride looks really weird without a predrop. Maybe I'm just used to seeing Raptor, but still it doesn't seem very...B&M-ish, especially for an invert.

Pre-drop or no pre-drop. I'm praying for one of these.

http://rcdb.com/10239.htm?p=38609

That would be sweet. That's probably my favorite looking B&M turn-around.

EDIT: This isn't really related, but does anyone know why most B&M inverts, standups, and flyers don't have very steep first drops? Is it the way the trains are designed or maybe they don't want the train to go too fast? I've always wondered this since I think it would be cool having a really steep first drop on one of these models.

Pete said:
As the train starts speeding down the hill, the chain dog just ratchets over the top of the chain, basically zero strain on the chain.

Let me preface this by pointing out that I have no idea why B&M supposedly does what they do with the pre-drop.

Strain works both ways, in tension and compression. Think of a cantilevered bar, being bent back and forth from its neutral position. One side of that bar is under tensile load (strain), while the other is under compressive load (strain).

With that in mind, perhaps it's the rapid unloading of force that is the problem (that is, the change from tensile load to the chain's neutral state). The pre-drop slows the release of the train, thereby slowing the unloading of the load imparted by the train.

Again, I'm simply "thinking out loud" here. I'm sure (hoping) Dave will come by and get us learned sooner or later. :)

The angle of the hill has little to do with final speed. It's the height that is the largest factor.

tcgolfer said:
Pre-drop or no pre-drop. I'm praying for one of these.

http://rcdb.com/10239.htm?p=38609

I would love Shambhala at Cedar Point... just build a replica of it in Ohio! That ride looks like it has so much airtime, and the trains look nuts!

The trains are the same as Diamondback, Intimdator and Behemoth.

The seating on Behemoth, Sheikra, etc. is amazingly comfortable and access/egress is so easy. This manufacturer seems to pay attention to real-world loading scenarios. Looking forward to seeing what they have in mind for this.

The pre-drops did have soemthing to do with the chain. I can't remember the exact reasoning. It was something I asked when we were on the behind-the-scenes tour at BGW a couple of years ago.

My understanding it was just to get the chain dogs to disengage smoothly by allowing the train to move off of the chain at roughly the speed that the chain was moving. In retrospect, this may have been a premature optimization, as the wear and tear was never significant in the first place.

I liked what the maintenance supervisor said at Dollywood about chains and anti-rollbacks and what not. While someone like Gerstlauer implements an expensive system to keep the rollbacks from dragging, B&M puts a cheap nylon cap on it that you replace.

Well whatever the reason is, Im' sure B&M knows what their doing. That's why amusement parks have trusted them with multi-millions dollar deals over the past 2 decades.

Anyhow, I get to go to CP this upcoming Wednesday. I'll make sure to take lots of pics of the ground around SS&DT.