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What's your thought about B&M vest restraint ?

What's your thought about B&M vest restraint ?


  • Total voters
    51

Lofty

CF Legend
Some aren't too bad, but my experience of them overall is far from good.

X-Flight, Thunderbird, Valravn, GateKeeper are all a bit bad but Banshee is the ultimate offender.
 

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
I've only experienced them on Swarm, and don't mind them on that. I can imagine they really ruin a dive though, can't imagine you get the same feeling of weightlessness with them, which is one of the highlights of Oblivion for me.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Hate is a strong word. I'd rather settle for a don't like.

I don't like any auto-tightening restraints with a high resolution. You can shrug your shoulders, give yourself some room and think this is fine while waiting in the station, but once you set off certain forces and elements just give you a tiny unavoidable tighten and make it steadily worse over time. Vests aren't the only culprits of this.

They sort of make sense for Wing Riders with their style and slow inlines, as opposed to falling into a standard OTSR that doesnt touch your shoulders, but that's an unpleasant element regardless.

Not tried these yet:
Inverts maybe? I wouldn't say the original restraints make or break those rides. They can be a little bulky, I'm not a fan of the lack of width between them (limited arm position options depending on what the people next to you do) and they have been known to throw a punch on the odd occasion.
Dives no. If there's one thing a clampy vest kills, it's air time. Sounds awful.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Been on 3 flyers and 2 wingers - not once have I had a problem with the vest restraints, certainly never experienced the vest locking mid ride.
Have heard one or two female type people (or the Clitterati, as I believe they like to be called these days) complaining of boob pain when held on the brake run for any length of time, but seeing as my man-boobs are still only an A cup I've not yet encountered that problem.
 
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Edward M

Strata Poster
Never really had much of a problem with them. They work well on flyers because the position requires a certain tightness to feel safe. However, it almost ruined Thunderbird for me. As the only intense wing coaster I've done, it tightened on me throughout the ride.
 

Zek_Teh_Kek

Hyper Poster
Guys have drop tower bike seats.
How about stand up rides in general? ;)

But I'm fine with the Vest restraints. They were comfy when me and my uncle were stuck on Gatekeeper, even being comfy. Other rides like Valravn or Banshee I don't mind. I'm a small person anyways (95 lbs).
Now, Gatekeeper Pre-2017 was pretty bad, I will admit.
 
They're just awkward.

While they appear to be form-fitting and comfortable, they're actually rigid and really cut into my collarbones. It makes it hard to enjoy certain coasters, most particularly the B&M wingriders.
 

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
I don't mind them, but also believe they were solving a non-problem by being put onto Inverts and Dive Machines.
 

Mysterious Sue

Strata Poster
I have boobs so I hate them. They are absolutely unnecessary and, as far as I can see, add no element of safety to the ride. They are just painful and restrictive. With so many other companies working to do the exact opposite - Mack and Intamin at the forefront of trying to give us as little restraint as possible within the realms of saftey - just why B&M think they are a good idea is beyond me.
 

Y. Kim

Mega Poster
I REALLY HATE them. I can understand in case of flying coaster, but I HATE THEM WHEN IT'S IN DIVE COASTER OR INVERTED COASTER. It just eliminates weightlessness like as Takoda in Coaster Studios said in Valravn parody. As I rode Draken in my home park, and Valravn in Cedar Point and thinking Valravn s**ks because of bad restraint. They both have 2 drops and a immelmann in common but Valravn has more interesting layouts but because of restraint, feeling eliminated and after the ride thinking Valravn is Cedar Point observatory with 200+ feet. After that, I hate vest restraints especially on dive coasters.
 

CookieCoasters

Giga Poster
“Eliminating weightlessness” is the perfect way to describe it for me yeah. Definitely resented their presence most on Valravn; I’m not even looking forward to riding Valkyria that much in a few days as I just know the restraints will prevent it from fulfilling its potential.

Wing Coasters at least don’t have much airtime to ruin, but I do feel their often floaty/graceful purpose would be much better-executed with lighter restraints (and the unfortunate juddering that tends to naturally plague these coasters). Swarm’s have never bothered me, hence why it’s my favourite wing coaster so far, but on every other one I’ve done they’ve been rather annoying.

On Banshee I didn’t find them too bad - maybe because there’s no expectation of airtime and inverts are more intense than wing coasters anyway, so the restrictiveness doesn’t matter as much.

On flyers, they’re necessary, and don’t mind them at all.

Basically, I don’t like to see them on anything other than flyers, and I’ve found them to have a negative impact on too many rides to not actively dislike them
 

Snoo

The Legend
I'm not minding them at all. My frame is a bit bigger then most so the locking issues never hurt me compared to someone smaller then me, who I normally hear complain about the locking. While a valid complaint, not a personal one.
 

Hutch

Strata Poster
I definitely prefer the normal OTSRs, but I don't really mind them, with a couple exceptions: Swarm and Wild Eagle were too tight... I'm a scrawny guy and the restraints press against my collar bones, especially on the brake run.

Didn't have a problem with them on other rides. Gatekeeper and Thunderbird were fine. Valravn's was fine. Banshee's was fine (although it's my least favorite invert, that has nothing to do with the restraints).

I think they're good when they're used on Vekoma boomerangs. Okay they still ride like **** but they get rid of the head banging.
 
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