Indonesian designer's wheels behind leaders' bamboo bike bromance

Spedagi founder Singgih Susilo Kartono poses in front of his office in Kandangan village, Temanggung regency, Central Java. - Courtesy of Spedagi/JP

TEMANGGUNG, Indonesia (AFP): As Indonesian President Joko Widodo led Anthony Albanese around the lush gardens of a presidential palace south of Jakarta earlier this month, he presented the new Australian prime minister with an unusual gift: a bamboo bike.

The night before, designer Singgih Susilo Kartono learned it would be the Spedagi model he crafts in a small village on the island of Java that the leaders would ride side-by-side in a unique moment of bicycle diplomacy.