Well, apart from the Bowery of course.

I nearly bought one of these. It is flat bar... not sure if that is good or bad, easy enough to change to something else I guess. The price is the same as the Langster, the frame looks pretty nice in my eyes too.
I ended up with a Chicago because a 3 month old one popped up Craigslist here.

Just curious to see what you guys think (the top tube does slant though and it doesn't seem to have cages, I am sure that will put it in the hate list)

On a whole, none of its features make it ugly, but when it's all put together, it's hideous.

I think the oversized downtubes are a bit too much, and are clearly exaggerated. I like larger downtubes, but this seems that it's definitely not to make the walls thinner / weigh less, but more for 'the look' - the deepish rims complement that aspect as well. I don't know how I feel about the brakes: with non-machined rims standard, it's pretty obvious the brakes are there only for demo-rides and meant to be tossed after purchase.

I see the braze-ons for bottle cages, so I'm assuming you're talking about pedal cages. I didn't think the Langster came with any? If it does, it is likely cheap plastic road ones. At least these pedals are square-shaped, so adding plastic clips is easy. A lot of platform pedals now on bikes are shaped like a parallelogram, so the angle on the front of the pedal makes adding cages impossible, rather, you have to replace the whole pedal.

Also, although I can't find any on the Specialized website, their early launch includes a Langster Tokyo, which is black up front, a deep blood red in the back, and gold lettering / rims / hubs. It looks really nice IMO.

Does this make Giant offering (3) options for Fixed Gear / Track? The FCR (above), Bowery, and the Omnium?

Here's the link on Giant Japan's Website.

It seems that Giant Japan is just offering the FCR instead of the Bowery... with the new launch stuff, maybe this is the 09 replacement to the Bowery?

One other thing I will mention is the middle-ground between track and road geometry. I have a T1 mainly because of the 74o HT, and this has a 74o HT as well.

The FCR retails for 84,000 JPY and the 83,000 JPY for the Langster. Given the current exchange rate, this would be about $800 in the US.

Wish that was available in the US. I'd like to test ride that bike.

+1

The tubes are aero, that is possibly why they looks so big.

The Bowery is available here, this SS FCR has actually been here for a good year or 2, I was first looking at this before Xmas and had a little test ride on it(in the Giant shop.. they said I would ruin the tires if I tried to test ride outside, but it did feel good. They use the same frame design for the other FCR's here too).

i quite like the solid black rims. I didn't realise you could have black braeking surfaces until I saw this, or will it just wear though it quickly??

I have seen the Tokyo Langster, i think it will not be popular here in Japan. It is very cheesey, and the styling is like old Japanese art, it reminds me of some old people's home. I guess the people to ask are Japanese fg riders, but I have a feeling they will be as offended as the British were by the London and the NewYork'ese by the NY edition. But each to their own as I think the NY one looks cool. So I guess it attracts people from different countries best perhaps?

the bowery is in the lifestyle section
https://www.giant.co.jp/giant08/bike_...action=outline

@ The_Don - I see, thanks for the information. Didn't know they had been available (from the sound of the OP it was something new).

That braking surface is not machined. You can still stop on it, although it will not be as quick as a machined rim. Also, after much use the paint / anodizing can come off and reveal the rim surface.

I understand what you're saying about the Tokyo Langster, it makes sense. I think it attracts people from other parts of the country / world / other cultures. I'm originally from NY and I don't like the NY Langster at all, strictly cosmetically though. But as you say, to each their own

I think that frame's pretty fugly, but hey: that's just aesthetics.

man, they only come in teeny sizes. not that I am interested tho....uhhh/////

How much is this thing, I've been wanting to try out a compact geo bike.

NVM, jdig answered it.

give it ergo road drops and i'd ride it. it kinda has an FJ cruiser kind of ugly to it. the kind of ugly i hate but want to like at the same time.

It looks like there's a braze-on for a rear derauiler cable in the rear triangle? Correct me please.

edit: nevermind, saw it's the pedal.