Australian Amusement Fanatics

LARSON INTERNATIONAL TO MAKE ZERO GRAVITY AND CLIFFHANGER
Rights acquired from Dartron

10/26/2007

By MCW Staff

Larson International, Inc., manufacturer of the Space Loop and other popular amusement rides announced today that they have acquired the rights to produce the Cliff Hanger and Zero Gravity from Dartron Industries, Inc. Jeff Novotny, Larson International President, said "Larson and Dartron will begin marketing the new rides immediately".

Dartron Parts & Service will continue to support both products. The rides will now be produced at the Larson facility in Plainview, Texas.

Larson's website says the company "has provided quality amusement rides to many areas of the world including Japan, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Chile, Philippines, Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, El Salvador, Colombia, Great Britain, and of course, the US." In addition to the Zero Gravity, Cliffhanger and Super Loop, Larson also manufactures the Star Dancer, Flying Scooters, Crazy Train and, in conjunction with A.R.M., the Super Shot and Mega Bounce.

Dartron, based in Oregon, updated the popular Paratrooper and Round Up rides with the Cliffhanger and Zero Gravity respectively. Modern lighting packages and new tubs, in the case of the Cliffhanger, made the rides very popular and affordable midway favorites. At press time, the status of another Dartron product, the "Down Draft" was not known. The product was not mentioned in communication with Larson.

Mike Salerno of Windy City Amusements said his company is considering the purchase of an additional CLiff Hanger and Zero Gravity for one of their multiple units. The ride would be in addition to the Zero Gravity they recently purchased from Bob Coil of Dartron. Salerno says he is confident Larson will do a good job with the manufacturing of the former Datron products and would not be deterred by the change in manufacturer adding, "We have had nothing but good business relations with Larson International and have contnued this relationship since we purchased our Super Loop (Fire Ball) in 2000."

Thanx to Matt's Carnival Warehouse for the info

This is very interesting news. Larson r starting to add to there rides they produce

Cheers
Top Gunner14

Thanks for passing that on Topgunner. It'll be interesting to see whether Larson change the makeup of the former Dartron rides and whether any improvements are made. I think this will be the case, judging on the Super Loop upgrades over the years. The Fire Ball is quite different to the original model and makes next to no noise, unlike the Super Loop which is known for the characteristic sound as it roles along the track.

I'd say they'll upgrade them a bit. Fire ball is alot different to superloops. I've never ridden either one. Both rides made by dartron look great

I think the noise reduction had a lot to do with the rollers used for the inside of the track - originally they were metal, now they are nylon coated. Kiwi knows a lot about this.

Yeah the older models where rather noisy, good in my opinion, everybody looked to see what was happening.

The model over here has had all new wheels put on, they are made completely of nylon. It is a lot quiter, more of a whistle sound now instead of the old rumble. Also had sealed bearing's fitted. The major difference for the operator is you nolonger get square wheels, where a section of the rubber coating on the old wheels would fall off. It would always run fine, just very noisy and sent a vibation through the ride.

Kiwi
P.S. I will try and find a photo of both wheels

Interesting! I think the Ring of Fire was the noisiest model of all as it made almost constant noise during its operation, even more than the Super Loop.

Can't agree wit any of that. When ever i've been 2 a show, never seen a supaloop