Hey - this thread is 22 pages now! I do not believe I have told the story about Macke and his Conago yet?
Max “Macke” Ljungqvist was a very strong sprinter and placed first or top three in many races in the early to mid 70ies – here in Sweden. He was so talented that he was “the most promising new star” as one magazine wrote. He rode a Swedish made Monark but soon he switched to a Colnago Super.
I met him in a peculiar way. Both being regulars at a local Stockholm pub in the 90-ies we met many times and he was such a nice guy. Really. You meet a lot of people but sometimes you meet someone that is extra. Macke was one of those.
At some point when out on my training ride I rode by the pub and outside in the sunshine sat Macke and his wife. “Are you a racer” he asked. I told him “no – just a training guy but I train a lot”.
The next time we met at the pub we got to talk and now about bicycling and bikes. He started out with – “I have a couple of old race bikes”. I was sort of into old race bikes as a collector already back then but usually when someone said they had something it turned out to be an old clunker with drop bars.
- I used to be a racer.”
- Uhmm
- I went down on training camp to Italy with the national team members.
- What!
- I got my Colnago Super made for me at Colnago.
Now he had got my attention..! And it was all very casually told. Then he continued:
- I have got two
- What - when was this?
- In 1972-4
- God – that is a dream bike for me!
In Sweden top of the line racing bicycles has never been a big thing. Not many sold – and finding a couple of early 70-ies Colnagos here was as likely as seeing two white ravens.
- You can have one of them.
- What!
- It is a little damaged but you get it for free.
It turned out he had ordered a Colnago Super in Monark color and riding for the Monark team he was going to have Monark decals put on here in Sweden. Before that was done he crashed it and damaged the fork. That bike was ordered and built in 1972. He then got another one built in 1973-4 but now he could chose what color he wanted, riding for another team/club, and he got a purple one.
That one is the one shown here. The picture is taken by his wife after his passing. He left us way to early a couple of years ago - doing it while bicycling. He had told me earlier that he was thinking of getting back in the saddle and asked me if I could fix up the old Colnago. Just re-grease the bearings and some new brake blocks, wires etc. Of course I could! It also needed new rims and those are on in the picture. Re-using his hubs. While I was fixing up his bike he told me stories of every nick and ding this frame had. And as a sprinter there were many. It was like war stories. It was wonderful.
Then we lost contact for many years (I stopped pub: ing) but I heard he had bought a modern bike and was training hard. It was going well – he was fast again. He went on training camps on Majorca etc. One day though he just stopped in his tracks and fell. His heart gave up.
In memory of Max “Macke” Ljungqvist I write this post. A good guy.
