This discussion of the advantage of folding bikes reminds me of the discussion several years ago when American Airlines, Delta, and United dropped their oversize fees for bicycles. At that time, everyone saw any advantage that S&S couplers offered as no longer pertinent. I however disagreed, as it is so much more convenient to be able to use a taxi to take me to and from the airport.

I do not mean to hijack this thread, but since alternatives like folding bikes are being discussed, I thought I would point out that couplers on a frame are another option.

I still will use my S&S coupler fitted bike on any trip where I fly, even if it no longer saves me money. I however did pay for the couplers and the case with savings on airline flights before they dropped the oversize fees for bikes. I use the S&S Backpack case. Photo below, I am carrying by bike in the S&S Backpack on my back.



Different trip below, I used a cart. S&S Backpack case is the big black case.



The bike in the case (a few items were pulled out of the case to achieve the 50 pound limit), photo below. The wooden center support was a DIY project, not included with the S&S case.



For those of you not familiar with S&S couplers, they allow the downtube and top tube to be split apart, you can see the coupler on the top tube, just forward of the seat tube. The coupler on the downtube is mostly hidden behind the crankset.



It can take me an hour and a half to pack my bike in the S&S case and just as much time to reassemble at the other end, complete disassembly is needed. But the ease of transport to and from airports can be worth it for me. But this only works if I do a loop trip, store the case at my start and end point. Some on this forum have said they shipped their case from the start point to the end point, but I have not done that.

Ritchey Break Away is another similar coupler method to split the frame in half too. Ritchey cases are slightly oversize, but have wheels.

I apologize for being off topic here. Just adding to the discussion of alternatives for those that were unaware.