The Anti-Dive Systems of the Late 80s

Most manufacturers had an anti-dive system and an associated acronym. Honda's NS500R had TRAC (Torque Reactive Anti-Dive Control), Kawasaki's GPZ600R used AVDS (Automative Variable Damping System) while Suzuki used NEAS (New Electrically Activated Suspension).

All these systems were based at the bottom of the fork leg and simply tried to reduce the rate at which forks dived under braking. Most systems worked by using brake fluid pressure to force a piston down against adjustable spring pressure and then closing a valve to restrict fork-oil flow, thereby making the compression damping stiffer. There were different ways of making anti-dive work.

Honda used pivoting calipers, while Suzuki and Kawasaki used a stop-light-activated solenoid.

What do we do to stop forks diving today? Well, forks and their internals are now much more refined than they were 20 years ago and the introduction of the modern cartridge fork saw anti-dive fade into obscurity. Today's anti-dive equates to. “Just giving the fork a bit more pre-load”.