Chinese Rip-Off Rundown

[roomraider]

With the recent expulsion of Golden Horse from IAAPA and a whole host of new Chinese ripoff coasters popping up in 2012 I thought it would be interesting to see exactly where this trend might lead over the next few years.

So I've trawled through a few Chinese manufacturer sites to see who is next in line to have their designs stolen\murdered by the multitude of companies out there.

I have already extensively covered the SLC ripoffs that started to appear a few years ago and we all know about the insane number of spinning & inverted wild mice already built in China. So in this post I will be sticking to the other types of ride we have’t seen so much recently.

Golden Horse

Golden Horse were one of the first on the scene with their SLC ripoffs at the Fantawild parks, Unlike most of the other companies they didn’t just ripoff the track style they copied the layout of the Kumali style Vekoma SLC’s exactly. but why stop there? In fact why not go a little bigger and try and ripoff B&M.

Golden Horse now advertise a Flying Coaster on their site. It looks kind of familiar doesn't it?

Hebei Zhongye Metallurgical Equipment Manufacturing

The company with the longest name in the coaster world (probably) is known for its smaller looping coasters prevalent across China, these tend to take standard loopscrew formats but in 2012 it was announced they would build an 11 looping coaster at Jinling Happy World. The ride may not be a direct clone (there’s a whole extra loop) but it looks awfully similar to the Intamin rides at Thorpe Park and Chimelong Paradise.

We've all seen this image before and its remarkably similar to something most of us have ridden.

Beijing Jiuhua Amusement Rides Manufacturing


Being a smaller company that the ones above hasn't stopped BJA having a go at the Vekoma Motorbike design seen at Toverland and Chimelong Paradise.

This is a direct clone of Toverland's Booster Bike. Its now operational and sports a nice red paint scheme

Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipment


Another company famed for their knock off SLCs has branched out a bit recently with a whole host of new rides for sale. They've recently completed a clone of Maurers Skyloop coasters at Jangfu Park but perhaps most worryingly they now offer a cloned B&M Dive Machine. These guys it seems will try and sell you pretty much anything.

Perhaps the most worrying BSA offering on their site is this Shiekra Clone.

How about a Zamperla Motocoaster. I imagine it won't just be Golden Horse attracting the Zamperla Lawyers.

This Maurer ripoff is already built at Jangfu Park, complete with OSTR's as an original feature

Conclusion

In conclusion it dosn’t look like the trend of Chinese companies ripping off other rides will end any time soon, even the recent court order against Golden Horse by Zamperla is unlikely to have much effect. I must admit I’m curious to see how exactly the Chinese companies would cope with building a ride on the scale of Shiekra and judging by the BSA and Golden Horse offerings we may not have long to wait.

I have a slightly longer article with a ton more pics of different offerings at http://www.vhcoasters.com

 

[BBH]

*sigh* It's bad enough that they're ripping off SLC's already, why can't they just think up something original and avoid legal trouble. But even with that, the Chinese government will probably protect them from our judicial system.

 

[Intricks]

So what happens when one of the B&M clones gets built? How soon til we see something massive happen?

 

[Smithy]

Ages, iirc the Chinese are somewhat lax when it comes to enforcing copyright laws (and probably don't realise such a thing exists).

I suppose when one of the big companies gets cloned, companies that have a strong presence in China already, then the parks who've supported these rides may themselves start lobbying for action if they see they're being drastically undercut by a cloned product.

Great article btw.

 

[nadroJ]

Does anyone know if they like, admit to copying the designs or if they feign innocence? I'd love to know.

I just don't understand how they get away with it? Is it literally because China likes to stay as closed off to the rest of the world as possible so they prefer to have stuff built in their own country, even if it is ripping off other designs? Basically, does their government/law or whatever even actually care that the designs are all rip-offs?

 

[gavin]

^They basically just have no respect at all for copyright law; they just don't care about it at all. You can just go into DVD stores in China (and Vietnam and Cambodia, which get the supplies from China), and the shelves are just full of ultra cheap, but very high quality, pirated DVDs. As in the discs are printed on, they come in high-quality packaging. There's no pretense that they're the real thing though.

The same goes for CDs as well, and that's before you hit up fake designer goods (usually wallets, bags etc, but so much more as well).

Obviously, you can go to a "real" shop and buy the real thing at a real price, but there's absolutely no "underground" aspect to the copies you can buy literally everywhere; it's all very out in the open and nobody gives a ****.

The US film and TV industry, as well as the European fashion houses, must have been losing out on billions over the years. They MUST have tried to get it stopped, and if they haven't managed it, then a few copied roller coaster designs isn't going to either.

Getting onto the coasters then; I really don't understand some people's idea that because it's "Made in China" that it's going to be some kind of death trap, an accident waiting to happen. That's bull **** quite frankly. Take a look around your house; chances are that the majority of your electronics are manufactured in China. Yes, they're manufacturing other people's products, but the there's clearly no problem with the materials, build quality and skills of the people putting them together.

 

[Smithy]

The main thing I don't understand is why they copy the track type for each ride either. All I can think of is that they're saving **** of money in not actually doing their own research into which track type would be best for each ride type when they can just copy the dimensions of an already existing style from a manufcaturer and clone it that way. Or they're trying to fool people, but that seems a bit futile.

 

[roomraider]

Its weird though, while I agree with you to a certain extent Gavin they do have the skills to make excellent rides, they certainly have the manufacturing base but they don't yet have the experience. When it comes to electronics they have the skills and years of experience, refining products until they are as good as they are today.

I've ridden a few of the knock off rides and the knock off SLC's with the "custom" layout that they all seem to use are pretty terrible rides.
They haven't really got the transitions right yet. Case in point the HZMEM attempt is apparently the worst of the lot.

However the Golden Horse mine train at World Joyland is at least on a par with its Vekoma counterparts and if the new mine train at Tianjin's Happy Valley is Chinese built as it appears then that looks pretty sweet with decent transitions and a custom layout.

There have been reports of trouble with the track on the 11 Inversion coaster, we saw supports delivered months ago and there still no vertical construction. The design of this coaster is a fairly major step up for a company that has only really built Loopscrews and 1 inverted ride (The one at the top of this post), The addition of the cobra roll and in particular the barrel rolls is a step up in terms of difficulty and in my opinion may be whats causing the issues.

I certainly expect the Chinese as a whole to get better at this over the coming years and maybe even try some decent custom designs. However trying to build a Shiekra sized ride is a massive step up from mid sized SLC's and Mine Trains and with current levels of experience that's what worries me.

 

[gavin]

But if it's a direct clone, there'll be less of an issue. Admittedly, the SLC knockoffs aren't great, but most are using a custom layout. I haven't tried the Golden Horse "Kumali" version, but I'm willing to bet they're a lot better than Beijing Shibaolai's earlier, custom efforts.

The out-and-out ripped off clones, in my experience, aren't really discernible from the originals.

 

[roomraider]

True the direct clones may be better. I've only ridden a couple and they were both Vekoma Mine Train clones. They were both pretty good although they rattled more than you'd expect from brand new coasters.

I've not ridden any of the direct SLC Kumali clones yet but I do hear they are better than the custom ones. They do tend to get bad reviews anyway but the problem is so do the originals so that's not much help

The one major difference in the direct clones I've seen so far is the OSTR's on the Maurer skyloop knock off. Which is probably a mixed blessing.

 

[njn63]

Getting onto the coasters then; I really don't understand some people's idea that because it's "Made in China" that it's going to be some kind of death trap, an accident waiting to happen. That's bull **** quite frankly. Take a look around your house; chances are that the majority of your electronics are manufactured in China. Yes, they're manufacturing other people's products, but the there's clearly no problem with the materials, build quality and skills of the people putting them together.

Those electronics have quality control/standards of larger brands forced upon the Chinese manufacturing. They also might of had assistance in manufacturing or design of the product (an iPod might be manufactured in China but it wasn't designed there).

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Chinese rip off kill some people. This is the same country that has had entire buildings fall over due to poor construction. Corners get cut and they don't have the experience to say what is and isn't ok with any certainty.

Basically, I agree that something being manufactured in China doesn't make it a death trap... but something being designed there scares me.

 

[Ben]

Because no Western rides have ever spited people...

Apart from a handful, and we're not really talking rides of this scale, they're all fine really. This whole issue gets massively exaggerated. Just avoid the looping toboggans and it's fine really.

 

[Smithy]

Any source on those claims? Genuinely interested in reading about them. About Chinese buildings falling over that is.

 

[njn63]

I can't post links yet but google "Chinese building falls over". It was a 13 story building in Shanghai.

 

[Smithy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... lapse.html

Rofl :|

The collapse shocked many in China where construction failures are relatively common in inland areas, but not expected in showcase cities such as Shanghai which will host the 2010 World Expo.

On Monday, just two days after the Shanghai collapse, rescuers were searching a river in northeast China after a section of a road bridge gave way, sending seven vehicles into the water below.

 

[Ben]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20079534/ns/us_news-life/t/thought-dead-minneapolis-bridge-collapses/

If we're playing that game, I guess you think this makes American rides unsafe?

 

[njn63]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20079534/ns/us_news-life/t/thought-dead-minneapolis-bridge-collapses/

If we're playing that game, I guess you think this makes American rides unsafe?

1 bridge... that was deemed structurally deficient in the early 90s.

Meanwhile, in China (source: Bloomberg article from August 29th, 2012):

"Since 2007, China has experienced at least 18 bridge collapses resulting in 135 deaths and untold economic hardship, according to records aggregated by the South China Morning Post, the leading English-language newspaper in Hong Kong.

They're good at making stuff that looks like the product they're trying to copy. They generally don't have the knowledge/experience to make that product correctly though (although there are exceptions). Did I mention I work with Chinese manufacturers almost everyday? cool)

 

[dj-fireball999]

Just sayin'...

http://coastercrazy.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=27241

^^ That coaster was made by Hebei Zhongye, the guys that are taking a stab at the delayed 11 inversion coaster for Jinling Happy World.

The ride below is from Beijing Shibaolai and they seem to be pretty darn horrific. Just the way that the train violently judders as it makes it's way round the track. Not the worst, though. The SLC from Hebei Zhongye is apparently a lot worse.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxFWvp5EJPw[/youtube]

I mean surely, this can't be that safe?

Golden Horse on the other hand, don't seem to be too bad. I mean, their Knock-Off SLC Shenlin seems to be the best knock-off SLC out there.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A_9Te21up8[/youtube]

 

[Smithy]

Tbf, it's a far lot easier to copy a track design and layout than it is to copy their maintenance schedules and upkeep requirements.

 

[Intricks]

Im sorry, but I have a hard time believing those arent going to kill someone when I can visually see the train juddering to make it through the inversion. That doesnt say 'safe' in any pleasant manner...at all...