diff --git a/test/replicate.js b/test/replicate.js
index b2aaa077..d52f2042 100644
--- a/test/replicate.js
+++ b/test/replicate.js
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 const test = require('brittle')
 const b4a = require('b4a')
+const compact = require('compact-encoding')
+const DebuggingStream = require('debugging-stream')
 const NoiseSecretStream = require('@hyperswarm/secret-stream')
+const Protomux = require('protomux')
 const {
   create,
   createStored,
@@ -757,6 +760,61 @@ test('multiplexing with createProtocolStream (ondiscoverykey is called)', async
   s2.destroy()
 })
 
+test('custom bulk channel does not delay hypercore discovery', async function (t) {
+  const advertised = await create(t)
+
+  const n1 = new NoiseSecretStream(true)
+  const n2 = new NoiseSecretStream(false)
+
+  const slowIncoming = new DebuggingStream(n2.rawStream, {
+    writeSpeed: 512 * 1024,
+    readSpeed: Infinity
+  })
+
+  t.teardown(function () {
+    n1.destroy()
+    n2.destroy()
+    slowIncoming.destroy()
+  })
+
+  n1.rawStream.pipe(slowIncoming).pipe(n1.rawStream)
+
+  const mux1 = Protomux.from(n1)
+  const mux2 = Protomux.from(n2)
+
+  const app1 = mux1.createChannel({ protocol: 'app/bulk' })
+  const app2 = mux2.createChannel({ protocol: 'app/bulk' })
+  const bulk = app1.addMessage({ encoding: compact.buffer })
+  app2.addMessage({ encoding: compact.buffer })
+
+  app1.open()
+  app2.open()
+
+  await Promise.all([app1.fullyOpened(), app2.fullyOpened()])
+
+  // Model a user-defined high-throughput app channel sharing the same
+  // Hyperswarm connection as Hypercore. It writes 64 * 64 KiB = 4 MiB at
+  // 512 KiB/s before Hypercore opens its replication channel, so the
+  // receiver can take ~8s to discover the core behind those app bytes.
+  bulk.send(Buffer.alloc(64 * 64 * 1024))
+
+  const discovery = new Promise((resolve) => {
+    Hypercore.createProtocolStream(n2, {
+      ondiscoverykey(discoveryKey) {
+        if (b4a.equals(discoveryKey, advertised.discoveryKey)) resolve('discovered')
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
+  const stream = Hypercore.createProtocolStream(n1)
+  const replication = advertised.replicate(stream, { keepAlive: false })
+
+  t.teardown(() => replication.destroy())
+
+  const result = await Promise.race([discovery, sleep(5000).then(() => 'timeout')])
+  t.is(result, 'discovered', 'hypercore discovery should not wait behind app bulk data')
+})
+
 test('seeking while replicating', async function (t) {
   const a = await create(t)
   const b = await create(t, a.key)
@@ -2958,4 +3016,8 @@ async function waitForRequestBlock(core) {
   }
 }
 
+function sleep(ms) {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms))
+}
+
 function noop() {}