L Arnold

This is a very interesting thread. There is no "one" answer.
Split Frame: The advantage is twofold. One is that it is much quicker and cleaner to pack and reassemble than removing the rear wheel and doing all the extra care of trying to fit in the available space. Two is the rear dropout/triangle is stronger, in my opinion, when the frame travels with the wheel in tact.

Removing wheels: does work and I can pack most Dahon's into a suitcase, including a trailer chasis. In terms of "turnkey" approaches on a 20" bike this works. On the Dahon's I find you don't have to remove the fork from the headset but on some other brands you may have to do so. It depends upon the geometry of the frame geometry folded and the available rectangle of the suitcase you are trying to fit into. It is for this reason that splitting the frame allows you to fit a suitcase with the rear wheel installed, while simply folding the frame will not allow it. The top of the headset sticks up to far. Removing the rear wheel SHOULD fix this, but it also depends upon the geometry of the case you have.

One of my complaints of this is i feel the wheel being in place does tend to protect other compoents more, such as derailleur hanger, dropout span, etc.

The important thing is being able to take your bike on a trip and being able to trust it.

Hinge: You are correct, you want to be cautious, in my experience, mostly with the Hinge Latch when you are packing it. This tends to be a point of "ramming" so it should be padded and this is the case with any folded bike during shipping as well.

The new Visc SL is a nice bike with a 9 speed Gear Set, and 16" (305) wheels. It can fit into suitcases without removing the rear wheel and without breaking the hinge. I find sometimes I need to remove the front wheel. That depends upon the suitcase. Removing the wheel generally allows the fork to be packed "in line" rather than "cross wise" so it does give some packing advantages always to remove the front wheel. I tend to plan on that and use a bridge tube with the skewer to brace the fork against damage while in transit.

The different variables you show are very interesting. I look forward to studying them more. I will find some of my better Suitcase packing images but I have the ability to get a full package 20" bike in a suitcase and have the suitcase become a trailer (Origami basis!). There are different ways to do it, but the important thing is being able to do it. Makes the world quite accessible!