The 1940s and more recent period

In the 1940s, the Estonian bicycle industry began to fade away. The first blow came from the nationalisation carried out by Soviet authorities in 1940 (aftery they annexed independent Estonia). They did not reach to small workshops, which continued to operate to certain extent during the German occupation period in 1941-44, but lack of details impeded their activities to a significant extent. They discontinued their operation after reinstating the Soviet power (Soviet annexion period).

After the war, the Soviet authorities first restored bike industry Säde, the successor of Saar and ARE bicycle factory, merged after nationalisation in 1940. However, the production volume of this factory was relatively low (compared to reparation bikes and bicycles made in Riga factory). The factory continued operation until closing down sometime after 1949. It needs further inspection, what happened to the machinery of the factory after closing down. Most likely, it ended up somewhere else in the Soviet Union, and thus, some small bicycle manufacturer could well be the successor of our local bike industry.

There has been no bicycle industry in Estonia since the 1950s until the end of Soviet era in late 1980s. The only short-lived exception was a cooperative "Bicycle", which operated on a rather occasional basis at the very end of the Soviet period, on the second half of the 1980s (when private enterprise was permitted to some extent).