as for answer/manitou suspension forks... I had the 2001 (I think) magnum R model on my xc bike, and while riding it the second time in the mountains, the stanchions seperated from the bottom of the forks, (boot?) so that the front wheel seperated from my bike, and was only held on by the front brake cable.... this happened as I hit some soft sand and did a slow motion endo type crash...

after taking it to the shop I found out that the plastic bushing holding the stanchions in broke allowing them to move freely...
anyhow I probably could have been severly injured because of this, I did however send them to answer and was sent a brand new manitou black suspension fork, which I ended up selling... so maybe mine was a freak case, but I probably will not use manitou suspension forks again.