SLC'S?

Meh, I've been on good ones and some bad ones. All the pick of the draw...

I have been on a few and have never had a bad experence.

SFKK: Bad
Astroworld: BAD
Wild Adventures: good

I've only been on one: Thunderhawk at Geauga Lake. In 2004 that thing was glass smooth. Went on it for the first time this year and couldn't hear anything for a few minutes after getting off it hurt so bad. For some reason I ended up riding it five times this year, all with the same result.

The reason they're rough is the trains, because they can sway a little bit back and forth. If they fixed the trains, they'd be a LOT smoother.

I've ridden two, SFA's Mind Eraser and Magic Springs' Gauntlet. The Gauntlet was glass smooth except for maybe one or two parts of the ride, but ME beat me up horribly

I have ridden 3 SLC´s till now! One was very good and the other two were a bit rough, but all in all it is not that bad!

--Sören

I had a chance to get ST at SFAW this summer. I thought it was mildly painful, only a few bumps here and there. I compared it middle between something such as B:TR and Mamba, or as in Ninja and a Boomerang.

-Cal

I've been on four different SLCs, each with varying degrees of success.

Blue Tornado (Gardaland) - Excellent! The best I've been on!
Traumatizer (Southport) - Not bad, but not very good.
El Condor (Walibi World) - I wasn't looking forward to it. And I was right. This hurt!
Jubilee Odyssey (Fantasy Island) - One of the worst rides ever created. End of story!

I've rode El Condor in Walibi World, the first SLC. That thing is sooooo bad, It hurts. I've rode it for the credit, Not returning in it! Ouch...

Blue Tornado (Gardaland) - Excellent! The best I've been on!

Yes! I totally agree on that. I voted 'NO' overall for the question of crappiness of these rides, simply because of my awesome experience on this particular installation.

For anyone who doesn't know, "Blue Tornado" is a mildly aviation themed coaster with a really clean blue and white colour scheme. A large amount of the track is supported over a suspiciously blue pond from which little jets create a thick mist for the train to plunge in and out from.
I don't remember it being too rough apart from going through the rolls, and I even remember getting some really great airtime dipping down from the diving turn!
Also, the additional helix is very fast and close to the floor. Very cool touch!

So, personally I'm quite thankful for these 'cheap' option Vekoma coasters. It allows small parks to finally break into the big scene and attract the attention that'll allow them to expand further.
I don't think half the privately owned parks in Europe would have become half as good were it not for their of-the-shelf Vekomas!

Cerberus