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Secret Weapon 7 Discussion

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I want to explain something there are 4 types of restraint

1.) is the T Bar which is a lap bar that you pull towards you E.g Sonic Spinball

2.) OTSR these are the types you get on Nemesis, Oblivion and ye olde Corkscrew !

3.) OTSLB/OTSLR (the over the shoulder lap restraint) are seen on Air (W/harness) The Swarm (W/harness) Blue Fire and all Mack Mega Coasters and Intamin's horrible Launch restraints

4.) Side Pull restraints which are the ones seen on X-Car roller coasters.
 
Seen as this is probably Gerstlaurers biggest project. I think they will see this as the perfect rode to push there lap bars into the scene. So unless Merlin have asked for OTSR's I think that lap bars are what we will be seeing.

Also from what I've heard Gerstlaurers lap bars are very secure and nice and comfortable. :)
 
Re: Re: Secret Weapon 7 Discussion

Joseph said:
I want to explain something there are 4 types of restraint

1.) is the T Bar which is a lap bar that you pull towards you E.g Sonic Spinball

2.) OTSR these are the types you get on Nemesis, Oblivion and ye olde Corkscrew !

3.) OTSLB/OTSLR (the over the shoulder lap restraint) are seen on Air (W/harness) The Swarm (W/harness) Blue Fire and all Mack Mega Coasters and Intamin's horrible Launch restraints

4.) Side Pull restraints which are the ones seen on X-Car roller coasters.
Click to expand...

But it makes life easier if we categorise then under lap bars and OTSR. I would still say air and swarm are OTSR

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk, please excuse any ridiculous mistakes!
 
They are more over the shoulder due to the vest which contrary to believe does hold you in and stops you sliding forwards out of the restraint.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
Joseph said:
3.) OTSLB/OTSLR (the over the shoulder lap restraint) are seen on Air (W/harness) The Swarm (W/harness) Blue Fire and all Mack Mega Coasters and Intamin's horrible Launch restraints.
Click to expand...

I always thought the intamin restraints in question were closer to OTSRs than lap bars :-\

But anyway i would definitely like to see lap bars on SW7 :) and as has been said before, gerstlauer themselves will be wanting to install lap bars on this coaster as their reputation relies strongly on it's success, if they can pull it off then more "big" parks will be likely to consider them for their next major project, and installing lap bars will make this much more likely...
 
I'm in two minds about this, I think lapbars would be the best option especially with all the suggestions for the secret element - it wouldn't be comfy with an OTSR.

However like many of the GP think woodies "aren't safe" with most people that I know, they wouldn't go near an inverting coaster with lapbars - it could potentially put people off.
Recent Gerstlauer coasters have mainly had lapbars and this could really be a chance to change the public's perception of lapbars and safety.

However, I can't help but think that this will be "played safe" and have OTSR's.
 
Lap bars have two benefits.

Firstly, the ride is smoother and allows freedom to move.

Secondly, if the GP thinks they're unsafe, then the queue's will be considerably smaller. I'll be glad if the GP are put off, they're idiotic when it comes to safety with coasters, and so are undeserving of a great ride experience.
 
I would love to see Lap Bars on SW7 instead of Shoulder Harnesses. I do not want Shoulder Harnesses after riding Saw, It hurts so much and almost ruins the ride for me.

I do love the whole "GP think they're unsafe" rubbish. As Nick said, if more people won't ride SW7 with lapbars because they think it's unsafe, the shorter the queue will be! It benefits those who do think they're safe.

On topic of other OTSR's, I do love Swarm's ones. I find them comfy, although I will they can get tight. B&M's ones are fine, and I like the ones on Intamin launch coasters but I think they're also unnecessary.

All those scared to ride, MAN UP! They're perfectly safe :)
 
Eddie said:
I do love the whole "GP think they're unsafe" rubbish. As Nick said, if more people won't ride SW7 with lapbars because they think it's unsafe, the shorter the queue will be! It benefits those who do think they're safe.
Click to expand...

Thing is that it's not rubbish. Unfortunately many people do see a coaster that inverts that only has lap bars as unsafe. And I can guarantee that Towers will want their new coaster to be popular with as many people as possible, not putting people off riding.

:)
 
If the GP think lap bars are unsafe, then it's purely because they visualise a tiny little rickety metal bar on old wooden coasters... Most modern lap bars don't even look like lap bars, let alone how comfy they are or whatever. I doubt many of the general public watching SW7 would even bat an eyelid if it uses some form of modern lap bar.

Lets also remember that the public happily go on Th13teen... Many with no idea what's coming. I know there are no inversions and thus only a small lap bar is necessary but people happily ride it for the first time with a lap bar without knowing what comes next. For all they know it could be a Multi-looping coaster.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
Rob said:
Eddie said:
I do love the whole "GP think they're unsafe" rubbish. As Nick said, if more people won't ride SW7 with lapbars because they think it's unsafe, the shorter the queue will be! It benefits those who do think they're safe.
Click to expand...

Thing is that it's not rubbish. Unfortunately many people do see a coaster that inverts that only has lap bars as unsafe. And I can guarantee that Towers will want their new coaster to be popular with as many people as possible, not putting people off riding.

:)
Click to expand...

What you're saying is true, but from my and most other people's prospectives, we see it as rubbish.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'd be getting Lapbars. Sad truth is that us Enthusiasts are probably the minority, and the GP are the Majority. Looking back on your posts a few pages back, Rob. I think you're right in saying we're getting OTSR's. But hey, If SW7 does have Shoulder harnesses, it won't stop me riding it! It looks like a solid coaster according to the plans. BTW cheers for providing us with Construction photos

:)
 
Ahhh the restraint debate. Personally, I'm 99.9% convinced we'll see an OTSR here. I hate this whole Merlin idea of playing it safe. Rides like this are meant to be scary and induce a sense of fear. That's their whole job. I think it was Ron Toomer who said that the whole thrill of the ride is the constant feeling of danger, and being out of control. It's only when we're on the edge that we can truly experience the fear the ride should create.

It makes me laugh that companies and parks will push the boundaries on bigger, taller, faster, and more inversions, but Merlin will seemingly never take the plunge and push it that bit futher and add a new dimension of fear and thrill to their rides.

So what that the public believe lapbars to be unsafe? Most members of the public will find any way to make anything unsafe about the ride. Heck, they'd probably find a way to claim that Charlie is a high risk attraction! :p

I don't think the restraint would have too much impact on the ride's perception personally. Yes there will always be one or two or think it must be a deathtrap as it has inversions and lapbars, but look at Enterprise. That has no restraint, yet people will quite happily let it invert them several times (Yes, I realise there is the cage on the bullets but even so, there's still potential for serious injury in there if it was to go wrong!).

If all these perceptions had so much impact would Europa have built Blue Fire? It's a lot of money to blow if the ride is not going to go down well with the majority of your guests. Would G-Force still be around? If it was going to put that many people off it'd have probably gone long ago. A lot of people rave about the ride amongst the GP. If the perception wood is unsafe is so dominant then how is Pleasure Beach still going? Those are some of the brutalist woodies in Europe (And I've ridden Zeus :p ) yet the GP still ride them. Merlin just seem to play into this whole "fear culture" for want of another word, but they need to realise that there is only so far you can go playing safe. Some of the most iconic attractions in the world have gained such status for their boundary pushing ideas.

Rather than pandering to the GP perception surely the bolder decision would be to try and dispel these beliefs by building rides with lapbars, or are made of wood?
 
The people who think lap bars are unsafe are not the target audience for a thrill roller coaster. Merlin need to concentrate on designing and building it the correct audience. But I guess it doesn't help when management themselves are afraid of thrill rides
 
Just a question. We keep saying that people find lap bars unsafe but have you ever seen someone refuse to go on a ride because of the restraints it uses?*

I haven't.

* Excluding people who have ridden it before and found it painful
 
I was going to visit Alton Towers this year to ride the new roller coaster but the advert clearly shows lap bars so I don't think I'll bother.

Most visitors will not even pay attention to the type of bars. They might notice upon arriving at the station but I really can't imagine people running to the exit over it. I have no idea what type of lap bars we will get but I can assure you the decision will be made on ride safety and practicality alone and not because of perceptions of safety.
 
Not so. The only reason why the B&Ms have the seatbelt is for "comfort" purposes. Ie to give the illusion of additional safety to the public. The harnesses work perfectly well without, but the public wouldn't like that.

The harnesses for SW7 will likely be in a similar vein, depending on what the car itself is like
 
I think that whilst Gerstlauer offer both OTSRs and Lap Bars, they'll know which would suit the design better and would probably advise which the park should go for.

Personally, I really do hope we see lapbars. But that's because I have broad shoulders and hate the 'will I fit/won't I' before going on a new coaster :mad:
 
Lapbars would also offer a unique experience like no other in this country. People would grow to see the benefits and the thrills of them over OTSR's and this would no doubt influence future coaster designs for the better.
 
They should offer a couple of seats with just lap bars, see how we'll they are taken up on and bang your next ride is full lap bars
 
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