I've been looking for a solution to traveling with a bike for a decade. I tried a Dahon, but it's just too compromised. The Rugged Hybrid with Carbon fork is basically perfect for me. I love hybrids. Riding postion, speed, flexibility - I can take this on trails or ride centuries. The frame is rigid and uncompromised by the folding mechanism - which itself is easy to use and fast. In short, it feels a lot like my Gary Fisher Mendota, and even almost on par with my Cannondale Quick Carbon. It's not even heavy. The quick folding and packing means that the only thing I had to do was remove the handlebars. Everything else was quick release. I didn't try to use the folding stem to bypass the need to remove bars, but I suppose it's possible they'd fit in the case just by folding.. I also bought the hard case for travel - and it's perfect. Was free to check on Alaska and I brought it to Maui with me on this trip. Couldn't be happier. Was easy to navigate through airport, the TSA opened it and put it back together without any issues apparently (they twisted the straps, but no harm) and I was able to fit a TON of bike gear in there too - helmet, tools, clothing etc. After years of expensive, crappy rentals, and nightmarish disassembly and reassembly of "full size" bikes, the ability to fold and pack/unpack in the space of two minutes is amazing. The bike is just lovely. The more I live with it the happier I get. I might switch to a set of pop-off SPDs, but right now I'm blissfully happy with the combo.