No, I'm pretty sure that the holes were there simply to remove unneeded material to save on weight. As for the design, this is one of my favorite suspension styles for riding XC. A few small changes have been made over the years, but I figure that most are to compensate for the changes in geometry.

 Do you still have it? That's a really slick bike.

 Sadly... no. A bike theif relieved me of it back in Victoria BC. It was locked to the bike rack on my car when I stopped at a friends place on the way home from a ride. I came back to my car to find the entire rack gone.

Kryptonite locks did nothing to discourage bike thieves, I lost two bikes that I thought were "safe", as I had secured them with a Kryptonite lock ( the model down from the NYC model ).

 Man that really sux. Sorry to hear that happened. I've had bikes stolen before but nothing this nice. I insured my current bikes just in case of that, but I think they're pretty old now, I mean 2009 is pretty old for a MTB if it's been ridden hard so I'm thinking of dropping that insurance as well.