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vekoma/arrow corkscrews

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Post July 11th, 2003, 1:10 pm

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besides the boomerang clones has the age of corkscrew coasters ended???

Post July 11th, 2003, 1:53 pm

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arrow has been gone since the early 90's, and vekoma went bankrupt after six flags woulnd't pay for Deja Vu.

Post July 11th, 2003, 2:32 pm

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How can arrow be gone? Didn't they make X? And I REALLY HATE Vekoma so i'm glad that i'm not gonna see any more of their coasters built anymore.

Post July 11th, 2003, 2:37 pm

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if vekoma is bankrupt then why are they still building slc's and boomerangs?

Post July 11th, 2003, 2:41 pm

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Arrow isn't gone, they merged with S&S. And as far as I know, Vekoma is no longer in business, but projects they were working on are still being completed by others.

Post July 11th, 2003, 5:03 pm

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i wonder how vekoma coasters would be if they put the side friction wheels on the outside instead of the inside.........

Post July 14th, 2003, 12:16 am

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Post July 14th, 2003, 12:28 am

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but thats the whole idea of the track, you see, B&M has that, because of the track style they CAN put the friction wheels outside the track, but its also really expensive. Vekoma/Arrow doesn't do that because they can't with their track style, but they choose that because the track is WAY cheaper prolly.

Post July 14th, 2003, 1:11 am

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u do have a good point there.....Vekoma/Arrow tracks look rather flimsy, therefore being cheaper and mostlikely poor quality riding...

Post July 14th, 2003, 7:22 am

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but what if they started making the ties to the tracks connect on the inside instead of the outside and modify their trains, this shouldnt cost too much would it? I think they could make a comeback if they just modified the design of the track

Post July 14th, 2003, 1:53 pm

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I think that it still wouldn't be that good because the way B&M makes them smooth is the box steel section, where all the vibrations and stuff travel through the center, somehow making it very smooth, with vekoma/arrow style track it doesn't work that way, unless you have a completely different track style.

Post July 14th, 2003, 4:02 pm

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well, when i was reading somthing it said taht because the vekoma coasters side friction wheels are on the inside, it alows for slight side to side movement of the train on the track, where as b&m, because they are on the outside, there is basically no movement like that on the track.

Post July 14th, 2003, 5:36 pm

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my apologies on the false information about arrow. i thought that the one coaster in tennesse with the largest loop arrow ever made was their last coaster and that they went out of bussiness after that. however, they did file for chapter 11 bankruptcy sometime and i know S&S bought the assests to the company in october of 2001.

Post July 15th, 2003, 10:33 am

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Actually, the reason Arrow/Vekomas are so rough and Beemers are so smooth has nothing to do with inside/outside guide wheel arrangement. It has to do with the transitions, and the fact that B&M wheels can individually steer, and are spring loaded to keep them against the track, resulting in a non existant gap between them and the track. The reason B&M uses outside guide wheels arrangement is that the track can be made cheaper like that.

On the other hand, Vekoma and Arrrow trains aren't spring loaded, and are barely articulated. And are thus very rough. The reason they use an inside guide wheel setup is because it was designed for small coasters where it would be cheaper to use a more expensive track setup with cheaper/easier to maintain trains.

Post July 15th, 2003, 1:23 pm

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yea. This is also part of why B&M's are so expensive.

Post July 15th, 2003, 1:41 pm

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Post July 15th, 2003, 1:42 pm

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no, j/k, they can be corkscrew coasters, SLC's, and i think thats about the majority of em.

Post July 15th, 2003, 5:01 pm

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so, would it possible for trains to be updated to the wheel assembly of that silmular to b&M (minus the outside wheels, lol) then might they be a bit smoother, or would the entire track have to be totaly re-done?

Post July 15th, 2003, 5:07 pm

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being as the track rails are on the inside, it would have to get moved over to the outside and the train's chassis and wheel setup would have to be modified. What I dont get is that how can a Schwartz coaster be headbangy when the wheels are on the outside of the rails?

Post July 15th, 2003, 5:09 pm

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The entire track would have to be redone because the wheels would collide with the ties of the track, even if the track was just reversed so the ties were on the inside the extra wheels would hit thies if the main wheels didn't, so B&M coasters don't have those problems because of the structure of the track, not just one feature.

Post July 15th, 2003, 5:29 pm

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I mean, if you made the wheels spring loaded, then would it make it smoother?

Post July 15th, 2003, 5:39 pm

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Post July 15th, 2003, 9:03 pm

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springs would make the rides bumpy like woodies prolly. And BTW, Arrow can't change it's track because it is now merged w/ S&S, who makes great XLC-type or SLC-type coasters and OK corkscrewish rides.

Post July 15th, 2003, 9:22 pm

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No, if done properly, and set up with the turntables, the spring loaded wheels would make them smooth (well, except for the bad transitions, and the poor train design of the SLC in other ways).

And e-man- Vekoma makes the SLC, not Arrow, their corkscrew rides aren't even as good as OK, and there's no good reason they can't change their track- they've done reprofiling work on a few of their coasters since the merge.

Post July 15th, 2003, 11:05 pm

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