I am planning some traveling, starting with a week in hawaii, then a few months of travel starting in mid Dec (probably).

I like to have access to a bike when traveling, but I've always been loath to take a full-size bike case w/ my own bike, since i like to travel very very light. Plus, I am cheap and the added cost of the full-size case is a huge turn-off (airline, shuttle, greyhound-- all gouge for the full-sized bike case).

In the past, I've rented road bikes and even a clunky mountain bike for 500 miles of riding in Laos and Thailand. However, this time, I will be moving around a fair bit and don't want to have to mess with rentals/poor fitting/finding shops and the like.

I am considering taking my BF's bike friday instead. It's appealing because it's easy to build up and no bike fees for the luggage. Also, obviously, I wouldn't have to buy another bike since his fits me pretty well.

It's not appealing because the thing is quite clunky-- 27 pounds!-- and the handling is kind of odd, I've heard. Also, my BF will have his ritchey breakaway, thus likely to be even more zippy and speedy compared to me.

Anyone have thoughts on the Bike Friday? (Obviously, I'll actually ride the thing before traveling with it, etc. ) I know there are people who really love their BF's (bike fridays). Anyone out there in teamestrogen land have a comment on this?