diff --git a/cmd/server/distance_lock_contention_test.go b/cmd/server/distance_lock_contention_test.go
index f04e332a..c1f7aa65 100644
--- a/cmd/server/distance_lock_contention_test.go
+++ b/cmd/server/distance_lock_contention_test.go
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@ import (
 // behind an active reader → avg cycle hundreds of microseconds to
 // milliseconds. Post-fix, readers hold RLock only long enough to grab
 // slice headers (microseconds), so writer cycles complete unimpeded.
+//
+// The threshold is calibrated per run, not hardcoded. Eight readers
+// saturating the CPU slow the writer's own cycles down whether or not any
+// lock is held, and an absolute limit cannot tell that apart from a lock
+// held too long: this test failed twice on 2026-09-17 CI at 156µs and
+// 222µs against a flat 150µs limit, on trees that passed on re-run without
+// a single byte changed. So the same measurement runs twice, the second
+// time against a store the writer never locks, and the readers' CPU cost
+// is subtracted by comparison instead of guessed.
 func TestComputeAnalyticsDistanceLockHoldDuration(t *testing.T) {
 	if testing.Short() {
 		t.Skip("skipping concurrency timing test in -short mode")
@@ -30,9 +39,67 @@ func TestComputeAnalyticsDistanceLockHoldDuration(t *testing.T) {
 	defer db.Close()
 	store := NewPacketStore(db, nil)
 
-	// Populate distHops/distPaths with enough records that compute takes
-	// a measurable amount of time (~ms). With region="", compute never
-	// dereferences distHopRecord.tx, so dummy zero-value records suffice.
+	hops, paths := distLockFixture()
+	store.mu.Lock()
+	store.distHops = hops
+	store.distPaths = paths
+	store.mu.Unlock()
+
+	// Sanity: result is non-empty.
+	r := store.computeAnalyticsDistance("", "")
+	if r == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected non-nil result")
+	}
+	if _, ok := r["topHops"]; !ok {
+		t.Fatal("expected topHops in result")
+	}
+
+	// Control: the identical compute, on a second store that the writer
+	// never locks. Same code path, same allocation churn, same number of
+	// runnable goroutines competing for the same cores, and no interaction
+	// whatsoever with the mutex being measured. Whatever this costs is the
+	// price of a busy machine rather than of a lock held too long.
+	//
+	// The two stores share the fixture slices. Both only ever read them,
+	// and the writer's Lock/Unlock cycles mutate nothing.
+	control := NewPacketStore(db, nil)
+	control.mu.Lock()
+	control.distHops = hops
+	control.distPaths = paths
+	control.mu.Unlock()
+
+	baselineMicros := distLockWriterCycles(t, store, control)
+	avgMicros := distLockWriterCycles(t, store, store)
+
+	// A regression under #1239 is not marginal: readers would hold the
+	// RLock across a compute that takes milliseconds at this data scale,
+	// so writer cycles land an order of magnitude or more above the
+	// control. 4x leaves room for the real handoff cost of a correctly
+	// short RLock without letting that regression through.
+	//
+	// The old flat 150µs stays as a floor, so on a quiet machine this test
+	// is exactly as strict as it was before, and it only ever relaxes when
+	// the control proves the machine itself is slow.
+	const maxOverControl = 4
+	const minLimitMicros = 150
+	limit := baselineMicros * maxOverControl
+	if limit < minLimitMicros {
+		limit = minLimitMicros
+	}
+
+	t.Logf("avg writer Lock/Unlock cycle: %dµs with readers on the same store, %dµs with readers on a separate store (control), limit %dµs (max(%dx control, %dµs))",
+		avgMicros, baselineMicros, limit, maxOverControl, minLimitMicros)
+
+	if avgMicros > limit {
+		t.Fatalf("avg writer Lock/Unlock cycle %dµs exceeds %dµs (%dx the %dµs control) — computeAnalyticsDistance is holding the main RLock for too long and blocking writers (issue #1239)",
+			avgMicros, limit, maxOverControl, baselineMicros)
+	}
+}
+
+// distLockFixture builds distHops/distPaths large enough that one compute
+// takes a measurable amount of time (~ms). With region="", compute never
+// dereferences distHopRecord.tx, so dummy zero-value records suffice.
+func distLockFixture() ([]distHopRecord, []distPathRecord) {
 	const N = 20000
 	hops := make([]distHopRecord, N)
 	for i := 0; i < N; i++ {
@@ -60,22 +127,22 @@ func TestComputeAnalyticsDistanceLockHoldDuration(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		}
 	}
-	store.mu.Lock()
-	store.distHops = hops
-	store.distPaths = paths
-	store.mu.Unlock()
+	return hops, paths
+}
 
-	// Sanity: result is non-empty.
-	r := store.computeAnalyticsDistance("", "")
-	if r == nil {
-		t.Fatal("expected non-nil result")
-	}
-	if _, ok := r["topHops"]; !ok {
-		t.Fatal("expected topHops in result")
-	}
+// distLockWriterCycles returns the average duration of a bare
+// writeTo.mu.Lock/Unlock cycle, in microseconds, while eight goroutines
+// churn readFrom.computeAnalyticsDistance.
+//
+// Passing the same store as both arguments measures what this test is
+// about. Passing a different store as readFrom measures the same work
+// under the same CPU load with the mutex left alone, which is the control.
+func distLockWriterCycles(t *testing.T, writeTo, readFrom *PacketStore) int64 {
+	t.Helper()
 
-	// Background readers churn computeAnalyticsDistance.
 	const Readers = 8
+	const WriterCycles = 200
+
 	var stop atomic.Bool
 	var readerErrs atomic.Int64
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
@@ -84,7 +151,7 @@ func TestComputeAnalyticsDistanceLockHoldDuration(t *testing.T) {
 		go func() {
 			defer wg.Done()
 			for !stop.Load() {
-				rr := store.computeAnalyticsDistance("", "")
+				rr := readFrom.computeAnalyticsDistance("", "")
 				if rr == nil {
 					readerErrs.Add(1)
 				}
@@ -98,12 +165,10 @@ func TestComputeAnalyticsDistanceLockHoldDuration(t *testing.T) {
 	// Let readers ramp up.
 	time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
 
-	// Measure writer (mu.Lock/Unlock) throughput.
-	const WriterCycles = 200
 	start := time.Now()
 	for i := 0; i < WriterCycles; i++ {
-		store.mu.Lock()
-		store.mu.Unlock()
+		writeTo.mu.Lock()
+		writeTo.mu.Unlock()
 	}
 	elapsed := time.Since(start)
 
@@ -113,19 +178,5 @@ func TestComputeAnalyticsDistanceLockHoldDuration(t *testing.T) {
 	if readerErrs.Load() > 0 {
 		t.Fatalf("readers returned empty/invalid results: %d", readerErrs.Load())
 	}
-
-	avgMicros := elapsed.Microseconds() / int64(WriterCycles)
-	t.Logf("avg writer Lock/Unlock cycle: %dµs over %d cycles (total %v) with %d concurrent readers, %d hops, %d paths",
-		avgMicros, WriterCycles, elapsed, Readers, N, len(paths))
-
-	// If readers hold the main RLock for their entire compute, every
-	// writer Lock cycle waits for an active reader to release: avg cycle
-	// >> 100µs at this data scale. After the refactor, readers hold the
-	// main RLock only long enough to snapshot slice headers (<1µs), so
-	// writer cycles complete in tens of microseconds.
-	const MaxAvgMicros = 150
-	if avgMicros > MaxAvgMicros {
-		t.Fatalf("avg writer Lock/Unlock cycle %dµs exceeds %dµs threshold — computeAnalyticsDistance is holding the main RLock for too long and blocking writers (issue #1239)",
-			avgMicros, MaxAvgMicros)
-	}
+	return elapsed.Microseconds() / int64(WriterCycles)
 }