TreeHugger-Style Roller Coaster in Japan: It's Pedal Powered

Why not modify this into some manner of public transport...somehow? I don't exactly know how that would work, but the whole thing looks rather like an elevated train.

(What keeps people from slamming into one another on this?)

LA: they mention on the site that the carts have handbrakes.

man, that translated link is hilarious. thx :)

this is BANANANAS

Not quite 'the future of rollercoasters'...there's been one of these in the UK for years! I remember riding (pedalling?) one of these over a decade ago with my younger sister at - I think - Flamingoland theme park.

It is so much fun I can't tell you, especially when you see another 'carriage' coming up swiftly behind you and you have to pedal really quickly!!

Terrifying! I know I'd try it.

Wow it truely is scary. A question though, how is this safe? I mean if you've have to cycle up such a steep slope - it seems futile. I love how it's eco-safe but surely there must be a better way to do this, solar power instead?

This is really wild! I wish we had something like this close by.
I think it's true that part of the thrill of this ride is that it's in mountainous terrain. I wonder if you can control the speed as you go downhill or if you're at the mercy of gravity.

Um.. did you guys fail to notice that the entire thing is steel!

Do you have any idea how many carbon emissions are put out making all that steel?

This isn't even close to green. Why not use wood?! at least for the framing of it all instead of those huge steel pillars.

Oh, I was lucky. They didn't use this for public transportation when I was in Japan. The seat belt and pretty pink basket are not good enough for me to keep calm on that high...

It doesn't go up or down, it's not really much of a coaster.

In one of those pics you can see the entire ride plus the station, no hills involved, that's an adjacent coaster.

Would still be pretty fun, no risk of high speed collisions, and a nice, unique view.

-Lun

This may be obvious, but I think there are two separate rides that both have white tracks.

The picture below "off you go" shows a pretty level track for most of the pedal ride - I think all the hills are for an actual roller coaster.

I would NOT fricking ride this rickety piece of crap with that stupid little seat belt above the trees! Are you nuts!

And the suiciders? lol

Er... sorry, but you mix up two different attractions. One is indeed a rollercoaster, the other is the one pedal powered. The rollercoaster goes up and down, the other one's flat. And, as you can clearly see, the rollercoaster has rails which the other one has not.

And, btw., in every Legoland in Europe there are those pedal powered high tracks.

seen quite a few of those in China. they're all really old though

yea, they've had these in england for time!

YES!

BUMPER-COASTERS!!!

Looks like they've finally managed to get rid of that whole "fun" problem, which prevented rollercoasters from becoming popular until now.

The Future? Ha! no try the "Past"
I can tell you right now this an obvious step backwards (Fred Flintsones mobile comes to mind?) and no insurance company in their right mind would ever underwrite such a piece of junk like this. If this is the future that the treehuggers have in mind for us I say viva la internal combustion engine.

Yeah, this is defiantly a thing of the past. Most Americans would be to lazy to pedal for themselves let alone the fact that lots of Americans would be to fat to even sit in the seat. lol. Don't be lazy!

This does look really fun though, I would love to try!

There has been something like this at Fujikyuu Highlands in Yamanashi Prefecture for quite some time now. Hamtaro-themed, if memory serves.

You absolutely have to read the translated link at the bottom of the pictures - hilarious!!

I suspect this ride would give you a pretty good idea of what it feels like to be a front-seater in a helicopter.

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. Awesome.

Why are we so excited about making a coaster eco-friendly? Aside from the electric-powered lift and braking systems, coasters are powered by GRAVITY...seems friendly-enough (especially the wooden ones)

If they had one of those in the U.S., I would give it a try. What a great way to get some exercise! As far as the carbon emissions for making all that steel, once it is made, you are done. No fuel is used to run it. :)

Haha, I've been on this "ride". The downside was that I am 6'7" and the handlebars were too close to me to be able to pedal. I ended up being carried along by the other person in the cart.

Not a bad ride, but I definitely wouldn't call it exciting by any means. If you like to bike, but hate all that freedom it entails, you'd love this thing. And yes, the view was nice, but then the whole park is on the side of a hill, so there are nice views from everywhere. The drop tower further up gives much better views, in fact, though for a shorter amount of time :).

Profoundly misleading!!! That's a very mild, flat track, that is NOT a roller coaster.

There is a roller coaster in the picture intersecting with the pedal ride but it is a totally separate ride.

Fetsin! Festsin! Slarrrrrrr!

Let's take a walk up there lol*

Wow,
This is only a couple of hours (by train) from my house. I'm definitely going when the weather warms up.

This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. Awesome.

We have one like this in Finland. These don't go up or down, they circle around within same level... http://www.jpuusaari.com/tykkimaki/Kustirata/index.php

The loop de loops must be a bummer.

It may not be the future, but it's still cool and I would ride it. I think it saves a lot of electricity, even if it IS made of steel. Steel works better because it takes up less space and is more malleable, and annually, the roller coaster probably saves more energy than a powered wooden one anyway.