Lapbar Question

Okay...I admit. I'm not very keen on how seatbelts/lapbars/shoulder harnesses affect the feel of a ride, but this begs a question.

If I am on a coaster where the harness/lapbars/seatbelts are dual (meaning I share them with another rider, will the ride feel different to me if the other rider has thicker legs or a bigger build and the safety device doesn't close as tight on me as it should?

I did my best to phrase that question, and I hope people understand what I'm referring to. If not, oh well. Just a new topic that I was wondering about.

Thanks for your opinions!

The only type of safety device that you must share with someone else are seatbelts. There's no dual bar or harness on any of CP's coasters (Edit: Besides Mine Ride, whoops).

If my memory serves me right, I believe only Blue Streak and Mean Streak have shared belt buckles. You really won't notice the seat belt, it's the lap bar that can possibly affect the ride. For a woodie, it's best if it's not too tight, giving you room to move when the ride jerks and bumps as wood coasters are known to do.

^ CCMR you share a lapbar, otherwise the other 2 coasters that you shared lapbars have been removed this year.

I stand corrected! (One of the few rides I don't pay attention to, of course)

Okay then, if you choose to ride MR then you may be in for a different experience. If someone's larger, I'd imagine it might actually create a more enjoyable experience for you due to an increase in your body to move about to act as "buffer" for MR's jerky movements. But it may actually be a disadvantage, because I can also see the possibility of extra movement creating a larger area for your body to fling back and forth with.

I know that having more freedom on MS and BS is beneficial, but I can't guarentee that's the case on MR. I'm sure it'll be bumpy either way, so the differences could perhaps be so minimal it wouldn't matter.

Gemini also has riders share a seatbelt. Somehow that seems to make sense with the whole "twin coaster" thing.

I miss the old shared lapbar and seatbelts on Blue Streak. I know they changed it for "safety reasons" but as someone who never stood up during the ride to write their name on the overhead beam at the top of the first hill I really miss having the room to flop around and being able to squash a friend at the hairpin turn.

Most rides that use a single lap bar also have only a single locking position. As on Mine Ride. So generally it makes no difference how big your riding partner is.

There are exceptions. Trioka, for instance, has an adjustable shared lap bar.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I've always appreciated the lap bars on Troika Troika Troika...