Welcome to the B&M Corner of Somecoasters.com. This website section focuses on all the wonderful European B&M rollercoasters and is a tribute to the great rollercoaster company Bolliger & Mabillard SA of Switzerland. If you ask for the world’s best rollercoasters, its impossible not to hear about B&M. They are the ones that build all this steel monsters of our dreams.

an own track for a perfect rollercoaster

It’s a concept that is followed over all the years in great tradition. Almost all B&M coasters are perfectly smooth, because of their own track design. They have an own sound when the train rushes over the track. Most of all coasters have 4 seats in a row, which is typical for B&M designs too. But most of all B&M is famous for implementing the world’s wildest inversions in their coasters.

famous inversions

Beside the common vertical looping which you find on many coasters, they have designed newer and wilder inversions, which are today the characteristics of B&M coasters all over the world. Dive loop, Immelmann loop, zero-G roll and the most recognizable - the cobra roll are the stars of all the B&M inversions. If you once have been riding through a cobra roll, you know definitely that B&M knows how to treat the coaster-fanatics from the wildest side…

But it’s not only the inversions that make the B&M coasters so special… Their different coaster types are as interesting as the inversions… Especially when you find out that they include the inversions in all their coaster types. That produces even more variations. For example the “inverted” cobra roll.

they invented the "inverted"...

They invented the inverted rollercoaster, where the coaster-train is hanging below the track. The legs of the people are hanging free over the ground. The idea of designing such a coaster came from Swiss ski-lift designs that you can find in Switzerland in the alps.
An interresting fact about B&M´s inversions is that the same inversions are often found on the different coaster types. The zero-G-roll you can find on sitdown coasters, but also on inverted coasters. And I personally think that the zero-G-roll on the inverted coasters is the best inversion ever found on a ride. When I first rode through Katun´s zero-G-roll, my breath was completely taken away, I was so impressed by the intensity of this inversion. After riding it some more I was sure, that this is the best part of a rollercoaster, that I´ve ever been to.

coaster-train without floor...

They also improved the sit-down rollercoaster by making a floorless coaster out of it. The cars have no floor and when you are riding the coaster you have a free view to the track. In the station a special movable floor is getting moved between the cars of the train, so that the riders are able to enter and leave the seats.

Hypercoaster in the B&M style -
the Speedcoaster

Another variation of the sit-down version is the “Speed-coaster”. The cars of the train have no over-shoulder restraints but only lapbars. These designs are meant to be hypercoasters (very high and fast) but without inversions.

Of course B&M have designed also Stand-up coasters. They even designed some of the worlds best so far. One very special B&M inversion, you can only find on these designs, its the so called "inclined loop". Its similar to a vertical looping, but its not standing 90° vertical, because the whole inversion is inclined.

the Dive-Machine

The Dive-Machine is probably B&M’s most special design. Its a rollercoaster, that has only one drop, but vertical up to almost 90°. (Newer designs with improvements are in progress). It’s all about the first and only drop. And its fun to ride! The freefall feeling is absolutely great.

Another new design is the flying coaster, where you are below the track (like the inverted coaster) but then the seats get turned 90° upwards so that you are in a flying position (like a bird) over the ground. These coasters have inversions of course.

We are wondering what B&M is designing next, I’m sure it will be as great as all their actual innovations. One thing is for sure… Without B&M’s rollercoasters, the world of coasters would be a boring place. But riding a B&M coaster is a really wild, but also wonderful experience all the time!