WHO ARE TAKEN?
Taken Cycles is the venture of four riders from Boise, Idaho, who wanted to build a hard-hitting machine that would pedal as well as it would descend. Jeremy and Rhiannon McGlathery and Matt and Laura Mundy combined their riding and mechanic skills and experience, bringing to market a bike they knew would deliver performance and ease of maintenance sure to please many riders. The Encounter is their first offering to hit the market, hitting their goals of capability and efficiency, and ultimately delivering their picture of the ideal enduro mountain bike.
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NAME
Naming a brand isn’t easy, but there were many ideas thrown around during the inception of the company.
While climbing up the trail on a prototype bike one day, Jeremy thought to himself, “Gosh, this has taken us a long time to find a good name, and every good name we find is taken.”
And so, Taken Cycles was born.
ENCOUNTER, THE FIRST TAKEN
Jeremy rode a 140mm bike equipped with the CBF (Canfield Balance Formula) suspension platform before founding Taken, and was impressed by its composure and comfort in rough terrain. As a rider typically enjoying longer-travel enduro bikes, he wondered how far the capability of the CBF system could stretch whilst retaining an efficient pedaling platform.
The Taken Encounter implements a high-pivot variant of the CBF suspension platform, with an aluminum frame capable of running 29” or mixed wheels and between 155mm and 176mm of rear travel. Building the frame to meet DH strength standards, it’ll happily run anything from a 160mm single crown to a 190mm dual crown fork.
CBF + I-TRACK SUSPENSION
While developing the Taken Encounter, Chris Canfield was enlisted to deliver his expertise for the suspension system. Using a high-pivot version of his CBF suspension design with an I-Track idler position on the rear triangle, Taken was given the impressive balance of pedaling and descending performance they were seeking.
The Canfield Balance Formula (CBF) suspension system constrains the center of curvature and instant center of the suspension into the same zone. In plain terms, this is designed to give a highly consistent pedaling performance, and isolation of the drivetrain forces from the suspension to give stellar bump eating capabilities.
The I-Track idler is located the rear triangle, rather than being concentrically mounted around a suspension pivot as is typical. The dynamic idler pulley location allows for the chain forces to be controlled throughout the suspension travel, claiming to absorb impacts and keep pedal kickback to a minimum.
Taken says their Encounter needed to climb as well as the likes of a Santa Cruz Nomad or Transition Spire, yet prioritized its descending performance with the goal of eating up the chunk and rocks.
HAVE IT YOUR WAY
Using different shock strokes, the Taken Encounter frame can be set up to deliver anything from 155mm to 176mm of rear travel. This does not require any additional parts, since the metric shocks preserve their eye-to-eye length when adjusting stroke.
Taken recommends a 160mm fork up front for the shorter travel setup, and a 170 or 180 fork with longer rear travel lengths. For those looking to maximize capability downhill, the frame is certified to DH strength standards, and will accept a 190mm dual crown fork. The fork length will determine the geometry, with the head tube and seat tube angles slackening, and bottom bracket raising, with the longer fork lengths.
For the wheel size, the Taken Encounter will accept a 29” or 27.5” rear wheel in every travel configuration. The geometry is preserved with the flip chip on the lower shock mount.
MAKE IT EASY, MAKE IT TOUGH
As bike shop owners and mechanics, the Taken Cycles team wanted to ensure their Encounter provided high levels of durability and ease of maintenance. This DH-rated aluminum enduro frame should withstand the test of time under hard enduro and bikepark punishment.
Ease of maintenance was provided by running the cables externally, with bolt-on cable guides in the front triangle. While it may not result in the cleanest silhouette, it makes swapping drivetrain and brake components quick and easy. A threaded bottom bracket and SRAM UDH make spares availability easy in a pinch. There’s a bottle cage and tool mount inside the front triangle, as you’d hope for on a bike meant to be pedaled all day.
TAKEN ENCOUNTER GEOMETRY
Taken gave the Encounter purposeful enduro geometry, with sensible numbers throughout the four size range. With a 480mm reach and 640mm stack on the size large, and a 63.5 degree head tube angle with a 170mm fork, hard-hitting riders are likely to be pleased.
The chainstay length changes depending on frame size and rear wheel size. Size small and medium gets a 437mm (29”) or 431mm (27.5”) rear end, and this grows to 443mm (29”) or 437mm (27.5”) for large and XL frames. Important to note is that the high-pivot CBF suspension features 11mm of rear end growth at sag, extending these chainstay lengths into a more stable and balanced territory.
AVAILABILITY AND SALES
Taken are offering the Encounter in small batch runs, with first delivery scheduled mid-May 2026. With 100 frames available per batch and high demand expected, they may not be around for long.
Pricing will run around $2,699 for the frame only, or $3,399 equipped with a RockShox Vivid Air or Coil shock or Fox Float X2. Push or EXT rear shocks will be available with custom tuning for the rider weight and riding style.
Taken says that they will help to support riders in putting together a full build, but encourage the use of local bike shops to get the components sourced and assembled.
THE WOLF’S FIRST IMPRESSION
After a rigorous day spent on our local test tracks, it was clear that the Taken Encounter is something special. Our initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive, both up and down the hill.
The performance of the suspension platform under power was particularly noteworthy, giving excellent pedaling efficiency with minimal bob, even with an open coil shock. The climbing geometry provided a nicely centered position that was comfortable and efficient, and the rear end still had enough compliance under power to generate traction in loose and chunky climb scenarios.
When navigating technical, ledge-filled climbs, the low bottom bracket height became apparent. Even with 165mm cranks, we experienced frequent pedal strikes, which is a factor prospective owners should consider based on our early testing. If your local trails consist of chunky, stair-stepped ascents, shorter cranks might be necessary, or you’ll find yourself reaching for the climb switch more often to keep the bike sitting higher in its travel. It wasn’t unmanageable, but it was certainly notable.
Once pointed downhill, the Encounter really came into its element, delivering impressive levels of composure and smoothness that were a standout. On several occasions after filming a section, we had to stop and reflect on how “pillowy” and forgiving the suspension felt.
In the loose, arid conditions of our test trails, where sharp rocks meet marble-like debris, a supple and sensitive rear end is critical for maintaining traction and control, and the Taken Encounter offered confidence to push on these trails that rivals the very best of them.
While bikes this sensitive can sometimes feel unsupportive, the quality damping in the rear shock retained control and composure. The hydraulic bottom-out system of this setup effectively added enough end-stroke progression to the linear leverage curve to inspire confidence to send it, with no notions of harshness.
We are big fans of aluminum bikes here at The Loam Wolf. The Taken Encounter frame did an excellent job of damping high-frequency trail chatter, and the inherent durability of the alloy is a welcome bonus.
Overall, it only took a single ride on the Taken Encounter to consider it a standout performer, which we are eager to spend more time on and see more of out on the trails.
