Riddle me this: What coaster promises a crime of a good time?

Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998 | 9:43 a.m.

Roller-coaster riders have long been admonished not to stand up when the ride is in motion.

But at a new coaster being built in Southern California, riders not only will be encouraged to stand up, they'll be required to stand up.

The Riddler's Revenge, the third roller coaster at the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, Calif. to bear the name of a DC Comics icon, is set to debut at the park in late March.

Billed as the tallest and fastest stand-up coaster in the world, The Riddler's Revenge will feature six inversions, including a 360-degree vertical loop a record 124 feet high.

With a speed of 65 miles per hour, a maximum height of 156 feet and a track length of 4,370 feet, the ride is comparable to New York-New York's Manhattan Express. But instead of being seated, riders will stand four across, held in with padded over-the-shoulder harnesses.

The ride, manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard of Switzerland, will be in Six Flags' Monterey Landing Movie District venue. It's the third DC Comics-driven coaster at the park. Batman The Ride is a suspended looping coaster while Superman The Escape, billed as the fastest thrill ride in the world at 100 mph, propels riders up an L-shaped track before free-falling backwards over the same route.

Riders of The Riddler's Revenge will experience a maximum 4.2 gravity forces during the course of the three-minute ride. In addition to the vertical loop, the track features a 360-degree oblique loop, two over-the-top diving loops, two 150-foot barrel rolls and a 250-foot spiral.

Two green bullet-nosed trains designed to carry 32 passengers at a time will ride over a lime-green steel track. With two trains in operation, the coaster will have a capacity of about 1,800 passengers per hour.

Six Flags Theme Park Inc. officials aren't saying how much the new coaster is costing, but they said The Riddler's Revenge represents the largest capital investment in the company's history.

The ride is the 11th roller coaster to be built in the theme park north of Los Angeles -- a 4 1/2-hour drive from Las Vegas. The ride will be the only stand-up coaster in Southern California and the second on the West Coast.

Six Flags debuted a stand-up coaster called the Shockwave, but it was moved to a sister park in Houston in 1985.