The bike, which measures 10 feet 6 inches from its chopper-style extended fork and front wheel to its almost foot-wide rear tire, is certainly remarkable for its low stance.

The Athena’s “striking stance comes from the lowered front end with a sunken seat, making her sleek and slammed,” proclaims Big Bear’s Web site. “[The seat height of 20 inches] allows you to be positioned inside the chassis, adding to the unique sensation of riding low to the ground.”

“Unlike everything else out there, it’s unlike everything that’s out there,” it concludes poetically.

“It looks extremely uncomfortable, but it’s by far the most comfortable [of the eight bikes he has owned],” Audino said. “With its low center of gravity, your body is in the frame. Your body is in a natural position when riding.”

Audino said he had been riding bikes for 15 years in addition to owning an array of cars, including Porsches, Cadillacs and BMWs. He currently drives a 2008 Range Rover Supercharged in addition to a Harley-Davidson Road King.

Big Bear Choppers was founded by Australian-born Kevin Alsop and his wife, Mona, in 1998. Audino said Alsop developed the Athena during the “Biker Build-Off” reality show on Discovery Channel in August 2006.

He said he paid $37,000 for his Athena about a year ago at a Bike Meet in Myrtle Beach, N.C. He then had some $8,000 worth of additional custom work done to it by ACI Custom of Johnston, R.I.

“It was already an awesome bike. They made it unbelievable,” he said of Anthony Ferranti and his team at ACI.

He said the additional work included extra chrome parts, the handlebars, the pegs, the rims and the exhaust system.

The bike is also loud.

“I like loud so people can hear you,” he said. “They see you, but they actually don’t see you.”

He said he loves to ride the bike with his girlfriend or a bunch of like-minded friends on weekday evenings in the summer. They meet at a restaurant — Trattoria Romana in Lincoln is a favorite — and then ride to another for dinner: often Artini’s or Geppetto’s on Federal Hill in Providence.

“It’s all about the camaraderie,” he said, noting that group members come from all walks of life.

“There’s a lot of socializing,” he said, citing a wide cross section with, “lawyers and doctors and others with no jobs.”

At the same time, bikes are not his only passion. His office is decorated with pictures of his 11-year old daughter Olivia — “my greatest accomplishment” — and of his deceased chocolate Labradors Rolo and Hershey, golfing memorabilia and a photo of his 44-foot motorboat Private Stock after his favorite rum, Captain Morgan’s Private Stock.

Audino, a jovial 42, graduated from La Salle Academy in Providence in 1984 and went into construction and real estate. He also painted cars, work he said he’d started while at La Salle. Divorced, but with a good working relationship with his former wife, he said he has a sister who is a doctor in Maryland and two stepbrothers, one teaching English in Rome and the other at La Salle.

“I’ve been very lucky,” he said. “I’ve never had a problem making money and making friends.”

He said he started Cortland Place with his father, Norman Audino Sr., after his grandmother entered a retirement home in 1988.

He said neither she nor his family were happy with the facility and he and his father reckoned they could do a better job of providing a comfortable and caring home for older folks.

“We had an epiphany,” he said, explaining that they had the idea of turning Austin T. Levy’s former Stillwater Worsted Co. mill into a retirement home. He explained that his father had owned the mill and its 8.5 acre campus since 1973 and had been leasing out space to 30 small businesses and manufacturers.

Applying their real estate and construction skills, they converted the 130-year old buildings — his office was the former boiler room where he had first worked as a kid stoking the fire for $2 an hour — and they opened Cortland Place in 1997.

The facility is now home to 160 residents, 60 of whom live in the independent living wing, 80 of whom live in the assisted living wing, and 20 who live in the Camelot wing for early stage Alzheimer’s. He said Cortland Place has a staff of 300 full- and part-time employees.

Audino said his family’s emphasis was on creating a home rather than housing for the residents and a quick tour revealed his personal involvement in the facility as he proudly showed off this or that feature and cheerily greeted residents and nursing staff alike.

Audino said both his mother correct and his uncle had been residents before passing away and his father still keeps an office next to his despite stepping back from day-to-day operations.

The small, cozy chapel showed signs of continual use, and in the kitchen, chef Marc Ruggio is famed for his Cortland apple pies and crisps. The facility’s logo is the outline of an apple.

The Audino family involvement is also revealed is such touches as his great-grandfather’s cobbler’s sewing machine, which is set up in one hallway underneath framed documents made out to his great-grandfather, Carlo Audino of Calabria in southern Italy.

“What do you think of the new tables and chairs in the café?” Audino asked one resident as he led a visiting reporter on a tour. She replied that the chairs were smart but did not have arms and that made it difficult for the old ladies to pull themselves up.

“What old ladies?” joked Audino. “I don’t see any old ladies.”

She laughed but Audino said the chairs would not stay.

“You’ve got to like old people,” said the owner of a big, bad bike. “If you don’t, you shouldn’t be in this business.”

For more information, go to:

www.acicustoms.com

www.bigbearchoppers.com

www.cortlandplace.com

Auto Biography tells an interesting story about a car and its driver. If you think you have a newsworthy story to tell about your vehicle, write to Auto Biography, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St. Providence RI 02902 or e-mail projocars@projo.com. Be sure to put “Auto Biography” in the subject field.

The car doesn’t have to be a classic or expensive, but it should be somehow unique. The driver must be willing to be interviewed by a reporter about what makes this car special and to be photographed with the car.

pelsworth@projo.com