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Denali C85 Review


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@Mose yes all carbon fiber laminates and PVC core. Cores are machined in house on our CNC and skis are hand built, all at our shop in Charleston. We have a top secret layup process that makes the skis come out stronger and more consistent than other skis that we invented after rigorous testing and evaluation. Because of that no c85 has ever broken, and we have skis with 600+ sets that still flex exactly like they did from factory. B)
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@greghayes You also need to give Meg Deeley (aka Meg Deeley Deeley) some love. It’s likely she made your ski and set your fin. Meg’s da bomb.

 

That said Adam Squared are the brains behind a great product, with more great ideas in the works. If you haven’t tried a C85, you should. If you tried a 65 or a 75 but weren’t enthused, the 85 is a completely different ski that is a lot more user friendly, and it deserves a fresh look.

Lpskier

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According to @adamhcaldwell I may be the oddball out.... While I whole heartedly agree the 85 is one great ski the 75 is probably still my favorite ski hands down. I can jump right back on it and run into my hardest line without hesitation. That ski just works for me. The 85 is still my go to ski but having a back up like the 75 is a breath of fresh air.
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Ok kids, I need some help/input on what size C-85 to order so chime in. When I bought my C-75 I was 195lbs skiing at 32mph. I'm now 180lbs still 32mph. On a normal day run 28off, on a good day 32off, on a great day 2 or 3 balls at 35off. Haven't been seen a piece of 38off in 4.5 years. I will be 72 in July so age in starting to catch up with me. Do you think I go with a Medium or stay with the Large?

Ernie Schlager

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@VONMAN Just shot you an email! This post pretty much gave me most of the stuff I had asked for, however height may also be a factor in the size you decide to choose!

 

Let me know if you didn't get it, but I'll be happy to help you get the size you need :)

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@vonman, email the Adam’s (edit: or Meg). My height came into play with how Caldwell sized my ski. Best to just talk to the experts. (Meg was clearly faster with the post comment than I was, and she is one of the experts)
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@VONMAN I checked my fin last night just for a reference at the start of this season, my c85 is a Medium, .860 dft, 6.975 overall, 2.470 deep. wing is screws up @ 7, I'm 6' 175#, RFF, boots are the new Radars, Sequence plate, my front boot is at 28 1/8" measured to the rear of the front heel
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@RichardDoane ok fair enough. That is well within many of the outlier settings I have seen on prior Denalis and oddball skiers on other skis, just surprising with my experience on the C85. Curious what happened when you were closer to 28 7/8"?

If it was easy, they would call it Wakeboarding

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@RichardDoane remove the back binding. Measure from the tail of the ski to the boot. in the case of the Radar boots if you don't want to remove the back one more than once - measure 12 in back from the front boot and then put a mark on the plate and then reattach your back boot. it's amazing that people let you work on their cars and boats :-)

 Goode  KD Skis ★ MasterCraft ★ PerfSki ★ Radar ★ Reflex ★ S Lines ★ Stokes

Drop a dime in the can

 

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Hey Ballers, VONMAN here. My C-85 arrived at my door step yesterday. It's a large and doing a compare to my C-75 it's a tad wider in the front along with the flat spot in the middle of the bottom. Side profile looks to be thinner from middle of rear boot to tail and the second break is now a smooth transition. Just my observation, Build quality and finish is top notch.

The one weird thing is the screw heads on the fin clamp to ski. All six are square not phillips head screw. I know that because you don't use inserts, you didn't recommend swapping out fin block assemblies because of that. But I found that it is easy to adjust the fin by loosening three screws by a half turn on the smaller fin block it makes life a lot easier.

Will be going on a houseboat trip next week so hopefully I get it all dialed in. Thanks again @RichardDoane for the fin numbers, @Horton for the Drawing and thanks to Denali for sponsoring the C-85 for Drawing. Thanks @AdamCord, @adamhcaldwell and @m_deel for the great ski you design, test and build.rpoaiuecup59.jpeg

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Ernie Schlager

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@Than_Bogan thanks, I found the bit in my toolbox. Don't remember ever have to use it before. By backing the screws a half turn I'm able to push the fin in the clamp with the caliper preset, instead of tapping on the fin because drag/friction caused my some fin blocks. If the fin moves easy after the 3 clamping screws are backed off no problem if not backing off the 3 fin block screws on one side does the trick. Just seems to work for me.

Ernie Schlager

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Just moved my T-Factor boots to a C85.

With skiers adjusting binding positions in 16th" increments and fin settings within 1 or 2 thousandths, what about a boot that has been fabricated with the outer shell misaligned with the plate and the ski, so your ankle is pushed about 3/8" to the right of center, in effect canting the ski down on the left edge ? This is a left/right boot so symmetry is expected.

 

D3 makes great boots; the rear boot was made correctly but front boot has outer and inner boot fabrication problems.

 

Looking for advise. Does this matter ? Is it appropriate to ask for a product exchange ? Bought it 11 months ago and used it for 2 months. Otherwise I will probably order a new one.

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@AdamCord and @adamhcaldwell First I have to apologize for not skiing the C-85 with the fin numbers as shipped. That is my normal way of starting life with a new ski. And when tuning a ski I usually deviate from stock. But life with my C-65 and C-75 was "Let's figure out what works". I think I had 4 pages of setting's for each. So to speed up fin tuning time I first skied on numbers that @RichardDoane had given me, the reason being I ended up on his numbers for my C-75 and loved them so why not. Which brings me to today. Reset the fin to stock numbers and Bingo, I now understand what @Horton was talking about easy this ski is and in control. So thanks so much taking the pain out tuning. I'm not sure I will be tweaking the fin at all after today's ride. The C-75 is officially retired.

Ernie Schlager

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@VONMAN - We take feedback from all of you to help improve upon every design!

 

Everyone is so unique and has so many different variables in their style, bindings and skiing environment that it makes things challenging from a design perspective. But we are getting better at it each year!

 

We very much appreciate all the support everyone has provided over the years and hope to continue to learn more and more as we move forward!

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@RichardDoane I used the stock numbers for 32mph which was the exact numbers the ski was shipped. I had checked and documented them before I changed to your numbers.

Front Boot 29" DFT .80 Depth 2.50 Lenght 6.80 Wing 6 degrees flat wing

Ernie Schlager

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I tried a c85 Medium the other week. I liked it!! But I'm not feeling stuck on my c75 Small, so I didn't pull the trigger. My wife tried the c85 Small as well. She was the reason we stopped by to try it out in the first place. Her V-Type was getting a little tired. She is the proud owner of a c85 now!!

 

During the demo at Trophy Lakes, Meg set the ski up for me (I assume it was set to stock with front boot at 29"). I managed to tie my PB on my first (and only) pass (4@35-off/34.2mph). The ski felt very comfortable. Easy to control and totally predictable for me. Conditions were awful. We had winds and rain. Still, I managed to get a PB. It is a great ski.

 

Thankfully, I got back on my c75 and still liked it. That would have been torture if I found I no longer liked the c75 after trying the c85. ;-)

 

Note, Meg told me to try the medium, while I was on a small for the c75 (Front boot at 28.5"). I didn't bother getting a clear reason for this. I figure if the person who builds the ski tells me I'm a medium, then I'm a medium!

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C85 Medium with stock setup, the best first impression of a ski that I have ever had. Since I restarted skiing last year after a lengthily retirement, I have had 3 new skis counting the C85. With a late Minnesota spring I can't evaluate top course performance but can tell how well balanced the ski is. Its the first ski I have had that allows me to aggressively gain speed and angle after my offside turn without being defensive to avoid going out the front approaching the wake.

 

In my first few days of skiing this year, this ski just does what I want. No need to adapt or relearn how to work the ski on the off versus the on side. It just works. And the T-Factor bindings are easy to live with. 165lbs RFF 32

 

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Any C85 experience or opinion on using NO WING at 30 and 32 mph. My D3 ION worked better without a wing at 32 and I have M6 friends that are good skiers not using a wing on other ski models. Obviously I can try it but others that are in better skiing shape may have some thoughts on this. (C85 Medium 165 pounds)
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@m_deel Thanks for building a great ski for me! Three very short sets on it now and it just plain works, no drama. (and the carbon print top looks great too:) Skiing very cautious on a total knee replacement less than six months old and skiing very close to pre-surgery levels today. Total trust in a brand new ski is great for building confidence when I really don't want to crash!
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