When you worked in roller coaster maintenance, did you often see coaster tracks in the state of Rock’n’Roller Coasters? What components needed attention in order to make the ride smoother for guests?
I was not in Rollercoaster Maintenance, but when I assisted in the coordination of the "redesign"(the course did not really change for the rider) for The Incredible Hulk Coaster, it was well known to the industry standard that it is the rollercoaster vehicle that causes most of the smoothness of the attraction for the guests, not the track. It was deemed worth it for The Hulk to be completely retracked. That was not going to change the roughness many speak of.
A damaged track can cause safety issues, and eventually, is either serviced or replaced for the safety, but the comfort of the guest to traverse the track is within the wheels of the train and the train itself. This is why the Hulk's trains were also completely replaced but some of the head banging roughness will always be there due to the physics of the attraction, particularly near the final portions of the corkscrew and the post on ride photo sections of that attraction. That comes from the design. RnR's late 90s Vekoma and elements definitely has some of that, but the roughness comes from the coaster train, not the track itself. Hulk also had the elements do deal with, and far more stress than Vekoma compared to B&M, which makes a major or complete retrack highly unlikely.
As far as components, I can go into detail of what wheels such an upstop do and how tight they can be on a track, but it gets rather technical and is one aspect.
This is why some rides, such as experiences on RIp Ride Rockit can vary. Particulary about six years ago, there were some very rough trains on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.
https://rcdb.com/528. Fun fact maybe for coaster fans, this is the same layout for the most part of RnR, it has been outside in the elements and although Premier, the forces are mostly the same.
The RnR trains are perhaps slightly heavier, but negligible.
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