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Old B&M vs Middle b&m vs New B&M

b&mfanboy123

Mega Poster
Which era or b&ms was the best rank them!
Old Before 2000
Intense rides, Smooth and very awesome!
Notable Rides - Montu, Kumba, Apollo's Chariot, Nemesis, Hulk, DC, Batman the Ride, Raptor, Afterburn, Pyrenees, Alpengeist, Oblivion, Riddler's Revenge
Bad Rides: Any stand-ups
Middle - 2000-2010
The sort of force less rides, not as good, floorless and hypers dominated
Notable Rides - Goliath, Diamondback, Intimidator, Nitro, Black Mamba, Sheikra, Griffon
Bad Rides ( It's b&m tho) - Silver Bullet, And all the forceless clones
New
2011-CUrrent
Notable - Leviathan, Fury, Oziris, Mako, Valkyria, Flying Dinosaur, Shammy B, Thunderbird, some other wing coasters
Lesser - Banshee, Blandravn, Yukon Striker, Plus these new ones seem to be getting rattles faster!:(
 

Jarrett

Most Obnoxious Member 2016
I’d say new is best. They’ve really dialed in the right combinations of smoothness, force, grace, and speed where appropriate by ride type and now all can be said to exist to some degree on pretty much any ride by them. Now there are a few that just aren’t my cup of tea (I’m not a dive machine guy) or maybe picked up a bit of a rattle (X-Flight and Diamondback really shock me as to how much they rattle considering their age) but for the most part I’ve not found any major that I can point out as a serious flaw in their newer stuff. Some of their older stuff is just as good (Raging Bull, Montu, Afterburn, Behemoth, Alpengeist) but for the most part, the further you go back the more likely it is for the ride to be rough, boring, or both.

Moving forward I think their next developments should focus on doing what they do more efficiently, introduce new ride systems that can do the same for less cash. They seem to be becoming a less and less popular option in the Western world. However, both that little wooden coaster park in the middle of Cornfield, Indiana recently got one and the blue track I saw sitting outside that factory outside Cinci is now assembled as a big, beautiful machine in little Toverland, so maybe they’ll catch on selling smaller coasters to mid-sized parks in addition to the big E-tickets usually associated with them?
 

Y. Kim

Mega Poster
For me, middle is best
liked how smooth, and forceful Phaethon and Griffon, and some hypers.

Of course flying dinosaur is good, but why new B&M has rattle?
Gotten some rattle on Draken and Valkyria and Valravn , rattling was really bad.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Answering the only way I can - with the aid of my spreadsheet:

Before 2000
Average rating = 14/20

2000-2010
Average rating = 15/20

2010 onwards
Average rating = 15/20*

A tad better? But nothing conclusive. Still don't see why it comes up so much.


*After fixing a skew from the family invert, originally 14.67.
 

Howie

Donkey in a hat
Dunno.
One could argue that they have produced some outstanding coasters in all of the 'eras' - the nineties, the noughties and the teenies. Each era has probably got a few duds too, but overall I'd say the quality of B&M machines, in general, is consistently very high indeed.
 

Peet

Giga Poster
The only comment I'd like to add to this is that I'm glad they don't make the pre-drops any more, I think they look kind of awkward and ugly, especially when followed immediately by a steep drop like Spanish Superman. Oz-Iris has a great first drop and looks so much better for not having a pre-drop.
As for other questions of B&M through the ages, I don't think it really makes much sense to split them into brackets, they have always made good ones and bad ones, but mostly good!
 

Zek_Teh_Kek

Hyper Poster
New B&M is just straight up fun, middle is fun, but the main elements that made B&M what they were before are missing out here, such as cobra rolls and other snappy inversions. Old B&M is my favorite though, even though I haven't ridden many.
 

b&mfanboy123

Mega Poster
The only comment I'd like to add to this is that I'm glad they don't make the pre-drops any more, I think they look kind of awkward and ugly, especially when followed immediately by a steep drop like Spanish Superman. Oz-Iris has a great first drop and looks so much better for not having a pre-drop.
As for other questions of B&M through the ages, I don't think it really makes much sense to split them into brackets, they have always made good ones and bad ones, but mostly good!
Oh I think b&m without a pre drop look ugly I don't know why though?
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
It's hard to divide all these up since it's a gradual development of technology. In a sense, the worst B&Ms are consistently the oldest, but old B&M really changed the entire coaster scene. The 00s continued to fine tune their models to either good (Hyper, Flying) or bad (Inverts) results. On average, middle era has better rides than old era, which makes sense, though the best of the old era sticks out more. Then comes new B&M. They've been adding consistently solid coasters across the globe, and (while wings aren't exactly my favorite) they've improved their Inverts, Hypers/Gigas, and Flying coasters. To compare a B&M made this year to something like Iron Wolf or even the Batman clones, it's a tad unfair. B&M's quality has been a gradual process, and I imagine the quality will keep improving.
 
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