Released in 2003, back when brands were struggling to perfect a free-flexing binding system that didn’t interfere with the would-be perfect parabola of a weighted ski making a turn, Nordica’s XBS binding system featured two crossing cantilevers. They eliminated the dead spot in a flexed ski created by traditional, screwed-in heel- and toepieces and helped you regain balance if you slipped into the backseat. The next iteration, XBi, anchored the same system directly onto the ski’s core, improving skier-to-ski energy transfer and further gluing the ski’s edges to the snow. With the version pictured here, XBi CT—available on selected Nordica skis this season—Nordica’s engineers figured out how to add a one-handed boot-sole-length adjustment mechanism whose gearing doesn’t interfere with the cantilevers. Now you can demo the system from a shop without having to use a performance-squandering demo binding, or let your buddy with a different boot size try your sick new skis. [skis with binding start at $745; http://nordicausa.com/ target=_blank>nordicausa.com]