Booster Bike Closed!

Booster Bike at Toverland has been closed for rehabilitation. Word has it that it is expected to reopen at around Christmas.

Click below for pictures of the train and launch system being dismantled.

Thanks to Dirk Ermen for this news.

So why is the coaster being dismantled? Is there a safety reason involved?

Dirk said it is just for regular maintenance...I know its not the biggest of news, but I thought it was interesting to see it being taken apart.

So was there a need for the dramatic title of "Boosterbike Closed!" ?? lol

Not really I guess that was just get people to actually read it

[coolbeans326]

Originally posted by Woodie Man

So why is the coaster being dismantled? Is there a safety reason involved?

Every ride in the US is required to do annual maintance like this. They were talking about this on the discovery channel one time. It's a good idea to take things apart, you can get a better look at things to see whats wearing than what you can from the daily expensions, and you can also lubricate other parts, and basically just make sure everything is working perfectly.

[hyyyper]

few....got there just in time

[Dirk_Ermen]

Originally posted by Fornication Nation

Dirk said it is just for regular maintenance...I know its not the biggest of news, but I thought it was interesting to see it being taken apart.

It was just maintenance, nothing really for safelty but they did it also to remove a trackpiece and replace that. There was a weird kink in it so now they have replaced that too.[:)]

Was that kink rough Dirk? Or was it not noticeable from on the coaster.

[Dirk_Ermen]

it was slight noticeable. But i hope it's uber smooth again when it opens.
If there is lying snow and higher then 5degrees the boosterbike is still open [;)] Would be fun to do boosterbike during snow [:D]

[Oscar]

Word has it is that after Dirk rode it, the ball bearings wore out drasticlly due to the increased weight. So now they must replace all the wheel bearings in the ride. Thanks Dirk.

[hyyyper]

Originally posted by Dirk_Ermen

it was slight noticeable. But i hope it's uber smooth again when it opens.
If there is lying snow and higher then 5degrees the boosterbike is still open [;)] Would be fun to do boosterbike during snow [:D]

where was the bump then?

[Dirk_Ermen]

in the helix where the action photo is taken... I'm not sure about the exact spot.

It must be something with Vekoma motorbikes because Velocity had a kinked piece. But I don't think that it's being taken apart like that.

Must be something about their track system and stress. Do you reckon it was a hairline fracture in the joint? Where is the kink on Velocity??? Are you sure its just not rough there as i remember the first turn being a little painful on the err, nether region. lol. It was much more forceful than expected and still is a really good ride though.

I don't know where it was on Velocity but one of the mechanics told me.

^I don't think that is being taken apart because of that, it is most likely that they are just taking the trains off to check them for andything wrong. I, like someone in an earlier post, remember seeing something like this on discovery channel.

Well i know in the US they dont take the track aprt to inspect it but they do take the trains apart and rebuild them each year to make sure they are working right.

^They arn't taking the track apart...all they are doing in those pictures is taking the trains off and taking out the launch catch car thingy mabob

[Dirk_Ermen]

I have a little more info from why it has been replaced, and 2 pictures:




Only one trackbeam has been replaced, not a whole trackpart...
The beam has been replaced now since when building it there happened a little mistake, what resulted in a little 'kink' in the beam.
Anyway, the promised opening date on the 17th might be reachable [:)]

[hyyyper]

meet-up anyone?

[Dirk_Ermen]

i'd might go already to a huge Themepark meeting that is planned on the 18th. But i'd only go when BB is open [:D]

yikes, good to see that they found it and fixed it!

[hyyyper]

meh...never noticed it....so i don't really care