Maverick Shoulder Harness

Agreed. When Maverick trains were originally unveiled, showing the shoulder restraints, I let out a sigh. Judging by Intamin's latest offerings, they don't seem to be going away either. So +1 for B&M's Diamondback restraints.

It's a shame that a couple questionable accidents changed Itamin's restraints from among the best to the worst. Not only is Maverick's shoulder restraint unnecessary and poorly designed, but the stapling lap bar is almost worse for me.

So any chance that Maverick will get the I-305 restraints? I have not seen them but hear they are much nicer. If they did, I would be back to riding Maverick again. Till then, my shoulders and head are taking a break and my kids feel the same way.

Then I hope they stay with the current restraints. Less people in line = shorter wait for me. ;)

From the look of the lines, most people have no problem with them.

Mike Jenkins said:
So any chance that Maverick will get the I-305 restraints? I have not seen them but hear they are much nicer. If they did, I would be back to riding Maverick again. Till then, my shoulders and head are taking a break and my kids feel the same way.

I doubt it will happen. I've ridden both, and there is no question that I-305's are miles ahead. They feel like giant backpack straps. Although turns are much faster on I-305, they don't feel nearly as painful as Maverick.

However, keep in mind that even with all the hype, height, and speed, I-305 does not compare to Maverick in terms of ridership. Maverick's line is usually the longest in the park after Dragster. For KD, Volcano, Dominator, and some other rides easily get more riders than I-305.

My point it this: CP doesn't have a long history of ride improvements. As a matter of fact, I believe BS had a classic coaster title for many years until they modified it. In addition, they don't keep up on their theming at all. Basically, if there are riders, they don't need to change the ride. I-305 NEEDS to draw people in, because without it, it isn't really a destination park. CP, however, has many rides and many attractions, so the ROI on replacing those straps would probably be minimal.

Ffej said:
...It's a shame that a couple questionable accidents changed Itamin's restraints from among the best to the worst. Not only is Maverick's shoulder restraint unnecessary and poorly designed, but the stapling lap bar is almost worse for me.

I'm curious as to why you would say that.

With Superman: Ride of Steel (all of them), and further with Perilous Plunge and Hydro, Intamin demonstrated that they didn't have a clue how to make a lap bar work properly. I don't understand how a poorly designed lap bar could be "among the best" ride restraints.

That said, the lap bar design that is the basis for the Maverick restraint is, in my opinion, an excellent lap bar design, particularly compared to Intamin's previous attempts. So it's fair to say that once they finally came up with a lap bar design that is a demonstrably good design, they promptly screwed it up by adding the shoulder bar assembly to it.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I would love to see the restraint mod they did on I-305 at KD on Mav! I-305 is the best restaints ever! If Cp did that to Mav, WOW, it would make that ride so much better.

What if they modified the Maverick restraints to be more like the ones on Shoot the Rapids? That's what I want to see!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Now you're talking!

The bruises are marks of riding awesomeness in our family. If you dont have one, you must ride the Jr. Gemini haha

RideMan said:

Ffej said:
...It's a shame that a couple questionable accidents changed Itamin's restraints from among the best to the worst. Not only is Maverick's shoulder restraint unnecessary and poorly designed, but the stapling lap bar is almost worse for me.

I'm curious as to why you would say that.

Speaking of my personal opinion of course.

Millenium Force & TTD are among my favorite lap bars. They feel very minimal yet secure, and they remain comfortable throughout the entire ride. When riding Millenium Force, I never see or think about my lap bar, and I think that's how a great coaster experience should be.

Fast forward to Maverick. The restraint is a polar opposite of what I described above. There's a shoulder harness that feels completely unnecessary right in front of your face. It's so poorly designed that you have to latch onto the shoulder harness to counter the ride's forces, taking out all the freedom of a roller coaster. No hands up, flying through the air...just the feeling of being caged in stiff plastic.

Then, no matter how much leeway I give myself at the ride's start, the stiff, tubular lap bar continually tightens the entire ride. By the end of every Maverick ride, the lap bar is a staple into my hip bones, no padding. I love the ride still, but it's always a relief when that lap bar is released. If they wanted this lap bar design, it should have been ratcheting instead of hydraulic to prevent this experience.

My 2 friends and sister say that it's the worst restraint they've ever experienced and completely ruins the ride (I don't agree that it completely ruins the ride, but do agree that it's an awful restraint and takes away from the ride experience).

Also, I took my overweight Dad on the ride, telling him to grab onto the shoulder restraint to brace himself. Once the ride was over, I was very disappointed to hear that he'd never go near Maverick again, saying he thought he was going to faint or die from the bar. He claimed the lap bar pushed so far into his gut that he couldn't breathe the entire ride. That he was panicked and claustrophobic, trying to push up on the lap bar to breathe, so he ignored my instruction on the shoulder harness, which slammed him through the whole ride.

Though his story seemed overly dramatic to me, that makes 5/5 of us that feel Maverick has a terrible restraint design. I think soft shoulder straps would resolve most of the complaints though. For future installations, Intamin needs to either completely scrap the lap bar design, or move to a ratcheting-style that doesn't constantly tighten beyond comfort.

RideMan said:
What if they modified the Maverick restraints to be more like the ones on Shoot the Rapids? That's what I want to see!

+1

I talked to Monty Jasper at Coastermania and asked about the I 305 restraints.He said they have looked at them but it would be expensive to change them.So I don't see them being changed.

Big Al said:
I talked to Monty Jasper at Coastermania and asked about the I 305 restraints.He said they have looked at them but it would be expensive to change them.So I don't see them being changed.

damn :( but I can deam and hope! :)

Dvo said:you guys are a bunch of pansies. haha just kidding. I only got to ride it once, and I kept my hands up the whole time and had no problem. But I'm 6'6" so there's only a little free space for me to move around vertically.

Well then guess I will never be riding that ride again. Too bad I liked the ride but like SOB, when they are that abusive, no ride for me!

Would the entire restraint need to be re-done, or just the over the shoulder part? You think Intamin would throw CP a bone with all the crap they had to deal with from the recent rides put in by them. Free would be nice, but you know that wouldn't happen, at least at a nice size discount.

I agree, with the delays to get recent rides going, Intamin should swap out the Maverick restraints for free.

Short of changing out the entire restraint, how about adding or substituting some softer foam on the portion near your head. Its the banging on the side of my neck and head during the rapid transition elements that make this ride painful. Something with more shock absorbancy would be nice.

The softer the foam is, the quicker it wears out and more often it needs replaced. It's a catch 22.

Lapbars only would be nice on Maverick, but I think that some of the transitions are a little bit too quick to not have some kind of upper body support. The new Intimidator 305 restraints would be perfect. I think that some complaints/suggestions like this one should be taken more seriously to help enhance guest experience, even if there is no "ROI". Oh well, I'll just count on improved restraints never happening.