Brent McDonald/The New York Times

At daybreak on Sunday, volunteer bike riders gathered outside the Worksman Cycles factory in Ozone Park, Queens, and prepared to ride heavy-duty bikes all the way to Princeton University.

In the spirit of sustainability, the 14 riders would pedal a small fleet of new industrial-grade bicycles caravan-style from the factory, where they were made, to their future base in Princeton, 55 miles away, where they would be part of the university’s bike-share program.

“It’s a fun way to show the sustainably local choice we made,” said Sean Gleason, 23, who runs U-Bikes, a Princeton program through which abandoned bicycles are refurbished and rented to students for $15 a semester.

Princeton isn’t the only area college to have a bike-share program. Drexel University has 20 Trek bikes free for students and staff to sign out. New York University has touted its student-run bike-share program, created last year, as the first in New York City, though this year, its 30 bikes await new student leadership and are not available to be borrowed.

But Princeton may be the first to propose pedaling its new bikes home from the factory.

The new Worksman bicycles, intended for free daily use by Princeton employees, were part of an order of 100, most of which were sent to Princeton in September. The remaining few were reserved for Sunday’s ride.

Traditionally, Worksman has produced heavy-duty bikes and trikes for companies like ExxonMobil and the Big Three carmakers in Detroit, as a way for workers to get around the plants.

But when core sales dipped 30 percent in 2008, Worksman’s president, Wayne Sosin, shifted his marketing strategy to draw in new clients – universities like Princeton and the University of Colorado in Boulder, which recently bought 60 Worksman bikes for its “Buff Bikes” share program.

But besides an upgrade to three speeds, aluminum rims and a new coat of reflective paint on the front fork, the Princeton bikes are basically the same as those used in a Boeing plant.

“We’ve been producing a green product forever,” Mr. Sosin said, “but we just never called it that.”

The first rays of morning sun had begun warming the solar panels atop Worksman’s plant as the group — composed of students, Princeton and Worksman staff, and bike enthusiasts — removed bubble wrap, adjusted seat heights and donned their helmets.

“We figured it would be a great way to demonstrate the positives of going with Worksman, our neighbor,” Mr. Gleason said. “We’re not only cutting out overseas shipping, gas and packaging, but we’re getting rid of shipping altogether.”

The riders had come by train from Princeton and would need all day to pedal back. The goal — to deliver the bikes to Princeton before sundown — would be no small feat. The Worksman cycles, 55-pound cruisers, had thick tires, three-speed shifters, coaster brakes and wide, spring-cushioned seats: great amenities for skirting across campus in all seasons. But for long-distance road trips? Perhaps not so much.

“I’m glad that they’re embracing the bike like they are,” said Al Venditti, a Worksman sales manager who would ride part of the way with the pack. “But these bikes were not intended for long-distance rides. These are workhorses.”

By 9 a.m., under a cloudless sky, the small swarm of cruisers (bubble wrap still clinging to some hind forks) coasted down Atlantic Avenue, toward Brooklyn. On the level surface, the bikes’ extra heft comfortably absorbed irregularities in the road.

“I feel as though I’m riding a Barcalounger, just floating through Queens,” said Ben Foster, 24, a green commute coordinator with the Greater Mercer Transportation Management Association of Princeton, which helped sponsor the ride.

Emily Sullivan, a junior at Princeton and a mechanic at The Cyclab, the university’s new bike cooperative, said she loved the idea of Sunday’s long ride. Over the summer, Ms. Sullivan said, she cycled from Seattle to Los Angeles, averaging 50 to 60 miles a day, albeit on a bike less than half the weight of the Worksman model.

“Riding a bike this far is just fun,” she said, “and people don’t realize they can do it.”

Spirits were high, even though the riders were already running behind schedule. Mr. Gleason pedaled at the front, occasionally stopping traffic when a red light threatened to split the pack. He wore a brightly checkered shirt and a panda-faced baseball cap strapped to the top of his helmet.

“There’s an idea that’s shared among serious cyclers that if you’re not equipped with the right gear, the right outfit, the right bike or the right helmet, you can’t do it,” Mr. Gleason said. “I think today, we’re going to prove that so wrong. Not only are we going to do a long ride, we’re going to do it on a bike no one would think about doing a long ride on.”

The group pumped over the Brooklyn Bridge into Lower Manhattan and boarded the ferry at Pier 11, having arrived with mere minutes to spare. That’s where I said goodbye, as the ferry whisked them out to Highlands, N.J., where they were to resume pedaling. Destination: The Cyclab bike cooperative, an additional 43 miles across hillier country.

Alas, by nightfall, the group was still about 15 miles out from Princeton. They stopped for Chinese food and waited for vans to take them and the bikes the rest of the way.

“We knew from the start that it was a crazy idea,” Mr. Gleason said in a telephone call, “but why not give it a shot.”

The university’s employee bike-share program is expected to start in November.

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