Cook's Cycles Keeping Walpole Riding

John Cook first started riding almost 20 years ago, and now he’s finding it harder and harder to stay off the road.

Cook, owner of Cook’s Motorcycles and Snowmobiles, said he first started tinkering with engines when he was a kid.

“My dad started in 1971, and I worked on engines growing up,” he said. “I was just always around fixing things, taking them apart and that’s how I learned.”

Cook said he loves to ride as well as work on bikes and has three of his own.

“My friends were riding so I figured I’d give it a try,” he said. “I’m riding a lot now and I love it. I have three bikes, a Kawasaki Vulcan Cruiser, a Yamaha FC600 sport bike and a 71 Yamaha. I hardly ever ride that one, it’s more to tinker on.”

Cook added he has a sidecar on the Vulcan for his dogs to ride along with him.

“Almost everyday I have my dogs here with me,” he said. “They’re like my coworkers.”

He added his dogs were the inspiration for his logo for the shop.

“One of my dogs used to ride in the sidecar with the goggles on and that’s what gave me the idea for the sign,” he said.

Cook said he started taking over the business for his dad in 1996, and was able to keep many of his father’s regular customers.

“I think just being honest with them and letting them know that they’re getting their money’s worth keeps them coming back,” he said. “It’s not like walking into a dealer and you feel like you’re being taken for a ride. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I am the only one who works on the bikes. It’s not someone they don’t know, it’s my name on the job.”

Cook said lately it’s been a tough business, but he loves it and continues to strive.

“It’s definitely tougher than ever to run a one-man business that’s for sure,” he said. “Luckily we’ve been doing it for long enough where we have a really good clientele of customers that help keep us going.”

Cook said counter intuitively a lot of people who work on their own bikes come in to him for small maintenance work.

“They’re tinkerers, a lot of them work on their own bikes, but a lot of them are bringing stuff to me because I’m a good alternative to the dealerships,” he said. “People aren’t fans of the dealerships these days, I don’t really know why.”

Cook said he participates in local charity rides and donates gift cards to the schools and other organizations for raffles and fundraisers.

Cook’s is located 2222 Providence Highway and is open Mon, Wed, Fri, 9am - 5pm; Tue, Thu, 9am - 5:30pm; Sat, 9am - 1pm; Sun, closed.