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The Smiler - General Discussion

I am still not convinced the body could have coped with The Smiler with only Lap Bars, as much as I wanted them and believed beyond doubt they were getting them!

Genuine question, can one of the real knowledgeable guys explain to me how, having ridden it rather than living in ideology, how could the body take the strain of such tight twists and turns with no upper body support?
 
TheMan said:
I am still not convinced the body could have coped with The Smiler with only Lap Bars, as much as I wanted them and believed beyond doubt they were getting them!

Genuine question, can one of the real knowledgeable guys explain to me how, having ridden it rather than living in ideology, how could the body take the strain of such tight twists and turns with no upper body support?
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Quite easily. Whilst they might seem extreme, in reality the forces experienced on rollercoasters are well within the envelope of what the human body can cope with. Furthermore, even for rollercoasters the motions that the Smiler performs aren't really pushing the envelope. You don't get anything like the kinds of roll rates that you do on rides such as Intimidator 305 or iSpeed and the forces in the vertical axis are moderate.

In essence, you already do ride The Smiler with only lap support as the harness part of the OSTRs actually does very little to keep you restrained and puts most of the pressure on your lap. The only time you are actually forced to come into contact with the harness is when you smack your head against it in the cobra roll!
 
Indeed, Gerst OTSRs hold you firmly by the lap. I actually quite like them as OTSRs go... But I would still prefer some form of lap restraint.
 
The OTSR have great oh beep handles. i have seen lots of riders holding them when i been at AT
 
A question from myself if you please. How would it feel going through that beloved cobra roll section with just a lapbar?

It's been too long, would we just hit the side of the seat or would it be more uncomfortable than now?
 
Your body banging in to the side of the seat, would be much less uncomfortable than your head banging in to the OTSR. Bodies are padded, heads are not.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
Do people really have problems with head banging? I never have banged my head.
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Depends on height and body shape. If you're tall or quite snug in the restraints you probably won't bang so much.

I'm tall so my head is above the restraint and it's padding so although I get thrown about a bit there's nothing for me to smack my head against.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
Do people really have problems with head banging? I never have banged my head.
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I have never had any problems on Smiler but some seem to, there are two jolts that shake you about a bit that if you where prone to getting hit by the harness you would get a bit of pain. But different coasters affect people very differently. For example I find Smiler fine but it has hurt Sazzle a few times, in contrast I find Dragon Khan at PortAventura horribly painful but she doesn't.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
Do people really have problems with head banging? I never have banged my head.
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Yes. I'm about 5ft 12in, 13.5 st - so fairly big but not huge. I can take a beating no poblem but every time I come off the Smiler I feel like my head has been in a vice!

If I'm honest I find it to be one of the roughest rides I've ever been on, and whilst my coaster count pales in comparison to some of you I have been around a bit!
 
I've never banged my head whilst riding Smiler. But my body does jolt quite a lot.
 
I find that The Smiler's roughness is more of a bearable bounciness, with some awful transitions thrown in. The only part of that ride that I'd think would be uncomfortable with lap bars only is the exit from the cobra roll, as many have said. The way the train flops sidewards could be quite jolting without some upper body support.
 
SuperMuscleMan said:
Do people really have problems with head banging? I never have banged my head.
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My wife smashed her head so hard into the restraint it pushed the back of her ear-ring into the side of her neck cutting her. I have also banged my head quite a bit but don't wear ear rings, although I have more pain from my shoulders and general upper torso after riding. She is about 9 stone, I'm 16 stone, so it is not just down to size.
 
It's not weight, it's more shape and where your head sits in the restraints. As I said I haven't ever even had a mild irritation from The Smiler, but clearly others have. On the flip side I can think of 3 coasters that hurt me yet others find fine.

They need to sort out the two main jolts though.
 
Cant say ive banged my head on the smiler personally, then again I never banged it on Corkscrew either. Maybe I have a long neck, like a giraffee lol.

On the subject of lap bars or OTSR i'm happy with the OTSR to be honest. I think they were added to the ride to stop the general public fooling around, particularly they the ride (as it frequently does) get stuck on the vertical hill. Unfortunately, for some, this would be a good time to try and get up, or mess about. At least with the OTSR's the public are firmly fixed in their seats.
 
You would be just as firmly fixed to your seat with a lap restraint though. That's the point.
 
GaryH said:
Unfortunately, for some, this would be a good time to try and get up, or mess about. At least with the OTSR's the public are firmly fixed in their seats.
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What? You can't just get up, these aren't fairground lapbars :p
 
Yes, I foolishly admit, I was thining of the lapbars like found on say the likes of the Pepsi Max for example. I forgot lap bars have come a long way since then.

My hand has been slapped - forgive me!
 
I personally find no issue hitting my head on the restraints, however I find Gerstlauer OTSR's in general extremely uncomfortable with how they end up pinning you in by the thighs as soon as the slightest bit of force is exerted on them once the ride starts. I'm aware other rides do this but it's the awful shape of the bottom of the restraints that really hurts. I've taken to holding on to the little bulges either side of the bottom to stop it pushing down on me throughout riding.
 
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