How much does a rattle affect your enjoyment of a coaster?

[Disco Lumberjack]

During my few years as an enthusiast one of the most common criticisms I hear of a coaster is "it has a rattle", I'll often hear this about coasters I didn't notice a rattle on, or if I did, not enough to bother me.

This got me wondering how much it bothers enthusiasts as a whole, so here's a 5 point scale, curious to see what you all think. I'd probably put myself in the moderate/major camp, with most rattles not bothering me but on occasion I find it ruins the experience.

Edit: I realise I probably should have put the "Rattles never bother me" as the last option on the scale, but what's done is done.

 

[Matt N]

I wasn’t sure whether to go for “slight/moderate” or “moderate/major”. I went for “slight/moderate”, but I think “moderate/major” could also apply, in hindsight. I have quite a low roughness tolerance overall, but I’d say I have a greater tolerance for rattles than I do for jolting and being bashed around.

Despite all the recent discourse, I have to say that I found Nemesis’ rattle to be very benign, and it didn’t affect my enjoyment at all (although I could have ridden on the “good” train). I’d say the same about Pipeline, another new B&M that people accuse of being rattly; there was a slight rattle in places, but it was entirely benign for me and didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. The ride overall was very, very smooth. I’d also say the same about Icon and VelociCoaster, which are both rides where I’ve heard rattles discussed; Icon’s rattle was more of a noise than anything else for me, with the actual vibrating sensation being very, very minor and totally benign, and while my row 9 ride on VelociCoaster had a similar sensation in areas, it was also more of a noise, and I similarly found the actual vibrating sensation to be extremely minor and totally benign.

I’d say that the line where a rattle starts to detract from enjoyment for me is where it starts to result in you hitting the seat back or restraints in some capacity, thus causing sore ears/neck or a headache. As an example, I’d say that Mandrill Mayhem had enough of a rattle to detract from my enjoyment slightly. That coaster was quite bouncy, and it did make me bop my head against the seat back in places and gave me a slight headache.

So for me, I’d say that the line between a benign rattle and a malignant rattle that detracts from my enjoyment is where it begins to become more of a “bounce” than a slight rattle, and where it starts to see you potentially hitting your head against the seat back or restraint.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

First of all, it's key to define the difference between a rattle, and a rough coaster. A rattle is just a noise caused by vibration... Depending on their tolerance, that vibration can induce headaches, amongst other things, in some people, affecting their enjoyment of the ride. A rough coaster is just rough, something that aggressively throws your body around in ways that can hurt parts of your body.

Rides like Ride to Happiness, Voltron, Taron, Hyperion and so on, all have a rattle. Old woodies like Grand National, Bandit, Loup Garou or some old Vekomas like SLCs and boomerangs are rough, in that they can cause some parts of your body to bang violently against parts of the train or restraint.

There is a bit of a grey area between a very very strong rattle, that causes constant strong vibrations, for example the type that has your head bouncing against a restraint, and roughness. But at that point I would say that rattle has gone beyond a rattle, and the coaster is just plain rough.

When talking about a rattle, particularly on newer rides, we're usually talking about mild to moderate vibrations and sounds. We mention them, even when they don't impact our own enjoyment at all, simply to inform. Because other people cannot tolerate even these mild vibrations. But also as something to watch in the future, in case it gets worse.

For me, I think I have a fairly high tolerance to rattles, and even enjoy some very rough coasters, as a bit of silly fun. That's never going to mean I do not notice the rattle, or roughness. It's there, I just don't care.

However, the frequency of a 'constant rattle' seems to be important for me. For example, Saw. I have ridden, and enjoyed, rides much rougher, rides with a stronger rattle, but there's just something about the frequency of Saw's rattle that seems to induce an instant headache for me, even when it doesn't affect people I travel with who are usually more susceptible to rattles and roughness. I don't think Saw's rattle is that strong, I've certainly been fine with rattles I'd consider to be stronger in the past. So I've come to the conclusion that there's something weird going on with the frequency and my body's reaction to that specific frequency... To make this even weirder, I've discovered over the years that downing a couple of pints of water in the 30 minutes before riding Saw actually helps. I am not somebody who doesn't drink enough, I drink plenty, and this is the only coaster that I do this for...

I know weird right? No idea if frequency and some kind of resonance is actually what's at play, maybe I'm talking nonsense, but either way, I still cannot ride Saw more than once or twice, whilst I'll happily enjoy rougher and more rattly rides over and over.

 

[Dan Nguyen]

For me it depends on the coaster.

I've noticed all coasters develop some kind of shake eventually. Its part of the aging process. The older the ride runs, the rougher it gets. The more frequently it runs, the rougher it gets.

A noticeable rattle on a newer coaster detracts from the experience. I noticed Emperor had a really bad shake in the edge seats when I rode it. It was really noticeable, so it detracted from the experience somewhat. Candymonium has a slight rattle in the edge seats. It doesn't really detract from the experience, but it'll be interesting to see how it ages.

A ride that has a shake that's not detracting is Kumba. Kumba has a bit of roughness to it, but I give it a pass because the ride is 30 years old. You'd be hard-pressed to find a steel coaster that's older than 20 years and doesn't have a little shimmy to it. Nitro also has a shake to it, but it was built in 2001 and has been running ever since. Its gonna have a little shake to it.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

A rattle is fine. I fully expect a bit of shimmying and rattling on coasters that go fast, especially ones that are older. Kingda Ka is a good example, and that never impacted my enjoyment of the ride. As long as I don't come off injured or with a day ruining headache, I'm okay with it. Even headbanging is okay depending on the coaster. It's the jack hammering I can't stand, and I'd say Stampida is a pretty prime example of horrendous jack hammering.

 

[Flash Shift]

As I've got older I've got more sensitive to it. It's rarely a deal breaker on its own compared to actual roughness, but it can be jarring. I found this to be the case on Nemesis Reborn, whereas on Helix it only happens in one or two sections and you've got lap bars anyway which mitigates this.

 

[InvertsAreMyJam]

I wasn’t sure whether to go for “slight/moderate” or “moderate/major”. I went for “slight/moderate”, but I think “moderate/major” could also apply, in hindsight. I have quite a low roughness tolerance overall, but I’d say I have a greater tolerance for rattles than I do for jolting and being bashed around.

Despite all the recent discourse, I have to say that I found Nemesis’ rattle to be very benign, and it didn’t affect my enjoyment at all (although I could have ridden on the “good” train). I’d say the same about Pipeline, another new B&M that people accuse of being rattly; there was a slight rattle in places, but it was entirely benign for me and didn’t affect my enjoyment at all. The ride overall was very, very smooth. I’d also say the same about Icon and VelociCoaster, which are both rides where I’ve heard rattles discussed; Icon’s rattle was more of a noise than anything else for me, with the actual vibrating sensation being very, very minor and totally benign, and while my row 9 ride on VelociCoaster had a similar sensation in areas, it was also more of a noise, and I similarly found the actual vibrating sensation to be extremely minor and totally benign.

I’d say that the line where a rattle starts to detract from enjoyment for me is where it starts to result in you hitting the seat back or restraints in some capacity, thus causing sore ears/neck or a headache. As an example, I’d say that Mandrill Mayhem had enough of a rattle to detract from my enjoyment slightly. That coaster was quite bouncy, and it did make me bop my head against the seat back in places and gave me a slight headache.

So for me, I’d say that the line between a benign rattle and a malignant rattle that detracts from my enjoyment is where it begins to become more of a “bounce” than a slight rattle, and where it starts to see you potentially hitting your head against the seat back or restraint.

Who’s saying Pipeline has a rattle? I went on it three times yesterday and didn’t notice a rattle at all. It was very smooth.

 

[Matt N]

Who’s saying Pipeline has a rattle? I went on it three times yesterday and didn’t notice a rattle at all. It was very smooth.

I heard a few different people saying that it has one. I rode in June last year, and while I noticed a very minute vibration at the start of the ride, I'd have overall agreed with you. The ride mostly felt very smooth to me.

I didn't overly rate Pipeline, but that was for very different reasons.

 

[Inverting_Thrills]

The only way a rattle is going to negatively impact my perception of a ride is if it gives me a headache.