The Bici isn’t your average bike shop.

Modern with hints of stylish vintage, the displays suggest a more sophisticated product inside. Old-school acrylic riding jerseys hang next to a television playing the Tour de France. Baron Corpuz works on a bike crank in the bull pin, which is open for customers to watch — like a sporting event of its own. Dozens of unique, fixed-gear bikes line the aisles, colored in mint greens and baby blues. The store, at 1229 State St., seems more like an art show, with objects meant to be seen, not ridden.

Co-owner Cecile Corpuz is buried deep in a back storage office attempting to organize thousands of items that arrive annually by sea containers from Europe via the Port of Los Angeles.

Born and raised in Holland, she came to the United States in 1984 to play field hockey and attend San Jose State University. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business, she met her husband, Baron, and spent the next few years working for the Dutch tourism office.

Missing home and her family, the couple moved to the Netherlands with their three children and started over. An avid cyclist, Baron Corpuz noticed the vast amount of vintage bicycling gear available in Holland. They decided to start selling online in 1994, several years before the Internet was a common shopping vehicle.

“We didn’t know if anyone would respond, but our first order came 10 minutes after our site went live,” Cecile Corpuz said.

Slowly the two collected a range of parts, bikes and accessories, but lost everything when their warehouse burned down. Cecile Corpuz estimates their loss at $3 million and said the real tragedy was the fact that most of their inventory was irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind items. Slowly they began to rebuild their inventory through their European networks. They visited flea markets and followed up on leads to view dusty cycle gear in friends’ attics.

Craving sunshine, they moved their family to Santa Barbara in 2005 and set up shop. The Corpuzes chose this location for several reasons.

“It has the quaint feel of Europe we wanted as well as a large cycling community and great climate,” Cecile Corpuz said.

Upon arriving in Santa Barbara, they opened a storefront, initially on Gutierrez Street, then in Santa Paula and most recently downtown on State Street.

Their business is largely repeat and slowly shifting more to in-store as they build up the foot traffic and word of mouth among the cycling and collector communities. Over the years, they have filled orders from 75 countries as enthusiasts find their missing treasure at The Bici. They haven’t done any formal advertising, but the search capability of the Internet has made their products easy to find for customers worldwide.

Corpuz mentions a trend toward women buying athletic, clean-designed bikes with a simple coaster brake. She says buyers come to The Bici from all over California because they know they can get a custom bike with unique pedals, wheels and components.

“Our buyer doesn’t want off the shelf,” she said. “They are more sophisticated and looking to build a beautiful, high-quality bike.”

In addition to sales of vintage cycle cross, fixed, touring and road racing parts and accessories, the store offers repairs to nearly all types of bikes. Cecile Corpuz oversees the look of the shop and marketing, and Baron and their son do most of the repairs. The kids also help photograph, list and ship orders.

— Noozhawk contributing writer Jenn Kennedy can be reached at jennkennedy@noozhawk.com. Click here to see more of her work. Follow her on Twitter: @jennkennedy.