fury roadmaster test report

John Dacey said:

Have you learned nothing from the classics? You'll recall
that Caesar was sternly cautioned to "beware the rides of
'-Marts".

It has been a long time since I've read anything as funny as
this. Thanks for the chuckle, John.

--
Dave dvt at psu dot edu

[email hidden] (Carl Fogel) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

[snip previous blather]

At 52 miles today, I calculate that David Van Tol now owes
me forty cents of the $7.71 reimbursement promised for a
thousand miles on the Fury Roadmaster. Such wealth reminds
of me of long-ago quarter-limit poker games, where hours of
fierce play resulted in similar sums changing hands.

As expected, my times on my flat 4.06-mile daily jaunt are
ruled by the wind. The bolt-upright position of the pseudo-mountain-
bike is as sensitive as a sailing ship to the breeze.
(Laying my left arm upward across my chest, fingers on my
right collar-bone, reduces wind drag--look out, Cobb-
position aficionados!)

So far, my fastest time is 12:31 on an almost windless day,
averaging a sizzling 19.46 mph and reaching all of 22.6 mph
near the end of the long, smooth backstretch behind the zoo.

Today, a stiff zephyr lowered my overall time over half a
minute to 13:06, but my speedometer recorded a new maximum
of 27.7 mph, a fine pace, to be sure, but not enough to make
up for the struggle in the other direction at only 15 to 17
mph. (Even higher speeds may be possible with higher
gearing, but I'm saving myself for Battle Mountain.)

Today, while whizzing past startled drivers who were obeying
the clearly posted 20 mph signs (the huge speed humps
command considerable respect), I noticed a faint--dare I say
it?--imperfection in the Fury Roadmaster.

Instead of the expected silence of pedalling along a
beautifully smooth road with a stout tailwind, there was an
audible whizzing noise from the Fury Roadmaster's two-inch-
wide tires, a steady zizzzzz! as the thick rubber hoops
inflated to 55 psi whirl along the asphalt.

My touring bike with 26 mm 700c tires at 120 psi makes no
such sound at such speeds on the same stretch of road. Nor
did I notice such sounds coming from the cars that I passed.

Is the sound caused by the stegosaurus-like tread of the
Fury Roadmaster's tires, their sheer width, or their low
inflation? What exactly is going on? The question is not
merely theoretical, since the noise may alert other riders
as I attack.

Carl Fogel

On 16 Mar 2004 21:59:28 -0800, [email hidden] (Carl Fogel)

Quoted message said:

respect), I noticed a faint--dare I say it?--imperfection
in the Fury Roadmaster.

Minor nitpick: I believe you have a "Roadmaster Mt. Fury",
not a "Fury Roadmaster"; of course, we know what you're
talking about, just as we'd know if you said you drive a
"Taurus Ford".

Quoted message said:

Is the sound caused by the stegosaurus-like tread of the
Fury Roadmaster's tires, their sheer width, or their low
inflation?

Mainly the tread. The same width and low inflation in a
slick would be quiet; even my inverted-tread semi-slicks are
reasonably quiet. Given that tread pattern, width and
inflation exacerbate the noise.
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

On 16 Mar 2004 21:59:28 -0800, [email hidden] (Carl

Fogel) said:

respect), I noticed a faint--dare I say it?--imperfection
in the Fury Roadmaster.

Minor nitpick: I believe you have a "Roadmaster Mt. Fury",
not a "Fury Roadmaster"; of course, we know what you're
talking about, just as we'd know if you said you drive a
"Taurus Ford".

Quoted message said:

Is the sound caused by the stegosaurus-like tread of the
Fury Roadmaster's tires, their sheer width, or their low
inflation?

Mainly the tread. The same width and low inflation in a
slick would be quiet; even my inverted-tread semi-slicks
are reasonably quiet. Given that tread pattern, width and
inflation exacerbate the noise.

Dear Rick,

Technically, it is indeed a Roadmaster Mt. Fury, but Fury
Roadmaster sounds so much more--well, furiously masterful.

(Just as "SoftWare Pro" implies the existence of "SoftWare
Amateur," so may Roadmaster Mt. Fury imply that in some
remote WalMart lurks a touring Roadmaster St. Fury.)

As for the noise, what actually causes it? Do the leading
edges of the fierce tread blocks sort of slip, like the toe
of a shoe during exaggerated running?

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

As expected, my times on my flat 4.06-mile daily jaunt are
ruled by the wind. The bolt-upright position of the pseudo-mountain-
bike is as sensitive as a sailing ship to the breeze.
(Laying my left arm upward across my chest, fingers on my
right collar-bone, reduces wind drag--look out, Cobb-
position aficionados!)

So far, my fastest time is 12:31 on an almost windless
day, averaging a sizzling 19.46 mph and reaching all of
22.6 mph near the end of the long, smooth backstretch
behind the zoo.

Today, a stiff zephyr lowered my overall time over half a
minute to 13:06, but my speedometer recorded a new maximum
of 27.7 mph, a fine pace, to be sure, but not enough to
make up for the struggle in the other direction at only 15
to 17 mph. (Even higher speeds may be possible with higher
gearing, but I'm saving myself for Battle Mountain.)

How does your speed compare to your old bike? What speed
gain can someone willing to spend one or two orders of
magnitude more for a bike expect?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Carl Fogel

. . .
As for the noise, what actually causes it? Do the leading
edges of the fierce tread blocks sort of slip, like the toe
of a shoe during exaggerated running?

Carl Fogel

More like they first bang the pavement with the rubber edges then as treads come under the contact patch the protrudong tread flexes the tire surface concave upward before reversing the process after the tread reaches bottom dead center.😄

Every time I see the name Fury Roadmaster I can't help
picturing some bearded cycling guru.

Bill "furry not fury" S.

PS: As "Roadmaster Fury" I see fury, but vice versa
whiskers. Good night now.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Carl Fogel
After the first five rides, it seems as if the Fury
Roadmaster ($53.71 at LawTram, plus tax) deserves its own
thread. (If nothing else, this will keep this bicycle-shaped
object from soiling other threads in rec.bicycles.tech.)

Previous and overly detailed posts regarding this triumph of
the bicycle-industry's art may be seen at:

groups.google.comgroupsOpen ↗
8&selm=c255ll%241k10%241%40f04n12.cac.psu.edu

or

tinyurl.com3cucpOpen ↗

(which is where Dave Van Tol started it all)

and at:

s.google.com/groups?q=g:thl2912196017d&dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-
8&selm=ZXv1c.8302%24Xb5.2972%40fe01.usenetserver.com

tinyurl.comyqv8gOpen ↗

(which is where Tom Sherman should have let sleeping dogs
lie). Both posts are part of long and foolish exchanges.)

As gloomily predicted, my expensive new bicycle suffered a
potentially serious mechanical problem that can only be
blamed upon inadequate setup by the overpaid slackers who
took my money!

Pedalling furiously around my four-mile route through the
city park like Benny Hill, I noticed that my left thumb
shifter did not seem as fixed and reliable as Julius Caesar,
who likened himself to the North Star.

Several times, either vibration or my clumsy paw moved the
lever from "H" toward "L," whereupon the front derailleur
began to make a faint noise, as if thinking about putting
its hand on the chain's knee--curses!

I considered posting a plea for advice, but feared that
Sheldon Brown, famed for his short tempered unwillingness to
suffer fools gladly, might lecture me severely.

(Besides, Sheldon is a fixed-gear fanatic and may know
nothing about sophisticated thumb-shifters. Why do so many
dealers become fixed-gear freaks? Is it a reaction to the
endless shifting problems that they see, somewhat like
bouncers in a topless bar losing interest in--well you get
the idea.)

Luckily, I have a pre-publication copy of Jobst Brandt's
"The Left-Hand Thumb Shifter" (Huffy Press, 12th edition,
2005, $49.95). It counseled pre-tensioning the triple-ring
shifter by rotating its honkin' big cross-head screw
clockwise "until the handlebar begins to yield locally."

The shifter now seems much improved, but woe to those who
forgo the services of the local bike shop!

Carl Fogel

Carl’s search:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-

gives a hit on the City of Gillette Wyoming’s police auction web page:

http://www.johnjappauctioneers.com/cityauction.htm

which has a Roadmaster Fury for those wishing to bargain shop.

In keeping with the WalMart origin, note that the web page has moving WalMart happy faces synced to a Willoughby shuffle.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Ed
>As expected, my times on my flat 4.06-mile daily jaunt are

Quoted message said:

ruled by the wind. The bolt-upright position of the pseudo-mountain-
bike is as sensitive as a sailing ship to the breeze.
(Laying my left arm upward across my chest, fingers on my
right collar-bone, reduces wind drag--look out, Cobb-
position aficionados!)

So far, my fastest time is 12:31 on an almost windless
day, averaging a sizzling 19.46 mph and reaching all of
22.6 mph near the end of the long, smooth backstretch
behind the zoo.

Today, a stiff zephyr lowered my overall time over half a
minute to 13:06, but my speedometer recorded a new maximum
of 27.7 mph, a fine pace, to be sure, but not enough to
make up for the struggle in the other direction at only 15
to 17 mph. (Even higher speeds may be possible with higher
gearing, but I'm saving myself for Battle Mountain.)

How does your speed compare to your old bike? What speed
gain can someone willing to spend one or two orders of
magnitude more for a bike expect?

Dear Ed,

You pander to the basest fantasies of those with
too much time and too many spreadsheets--thanks!

At the beginning of the year, I kept a ludicrously
detailed spreadsheet of my normal 15-mile ride,
which includes about 500 feet of climbing.

After two weeks, the figures confirmed that the
wind was what mattered, and I felt too senile to
keep seven sets of times in my head on every
ride, but luckily the spreadsheet remains and
indicates that I averaged 23.45 mph for the last
1.00 miles from the fourth speed bump in the park
behind the zoo through nine turns to my garage door.

The Fury Roadmaster achieves a credible 18.88 mph
for the extra daily 4.06 mile route that ends with the
same mile without any climb of more than a foot or two.

Any fit young rider would undoubtedly improve my times.

Of course, my $225 + $25 shipping used Schwinn LeTour
98 from eBay is not exactly an order of magnitude more
costly than the $57.71 pride of China (tax included).

I suspect that in normal commuting with stop signs and
traffic lights and female construction workers whistling
at my bare legs, the speed difference would drop.

If I ever take the Fury Roadmaster out into the wilds
of the countryside, I expect that its speed will suffer.
Despite its rugged appearance, it might prove reluctant
to climb the ridge west of town.

So far, however, I confine it to a route roughly similar
to what I pedalled to school as a boy over thirty years
ago, four miles of level suburban asphalt. No tools, no
tubes, no spare Kevlar bead tire, no patches, no pump,
no cleats, no water bottle--well, the last two aren't
featured on my normal ride, so perhaps I shouldn't
include them.

I see two ways to look at the nearly 5 mph difference.

If I could urge the Fury Roadmaster to a steady 23.45
mph for four miles, I might be able to keep Lance in
sight briefly before succumbing to cardiac failure.

But despite the suicidal glory, my average 12:44 time
would drop less than three minutes to 9:58, not
exactly an impressive difference.

It's a bit like the basset hound's dilemma. What keeps
him from boasting that his sexual organ is longer than
his front leg is the fact that his mate might murmur yes,
dear, but it's not as long as your ear, even though you
trip over both.

Fury Roadmaster--the basset hound of bicycling!

Carl Fogel

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Appkiller
-snippage-

". . . . a refreshing change of
pace . . . ."

Looking forward to reading it all!

App

How does the Fury work with other Fury's in a Fury pace line?

(Carl Fogel) said:

Technically, it is indeed a Roadmaster Mt. Fury, but Fury
Roadmaster sounds so much more--well, furiously masterful.

Jeremiah 23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth
in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously
upon the head of the wicked.

Ezekiel 7:8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee,
and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee
according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all
thine abominations.

Nahum 1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can
abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out
like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

Chalo Colina

[email hidden] (Chalo) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Carl Fogel) said:

Technically, it is indeed a Roadmaster Mt. Fury, but
Fury Roadmaster sounds so much more--well, furiously
masterful.

Jeremiah 23:19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone
forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall
grievously upon the head of the wicked.

Ezekiel 7:8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee,
and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee
according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all
thine abominations.

Nahum 1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? and
who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his
fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are
thrown down by him.

Chalo Colina

Dear Chalo,

Spreadsheet entry 03-18-2004, sunny morning, 12:43:

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to
the swift . . ."

Carl Fogel

meb <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Appkiller said:

-snippage- ". . . . a refreshing change of pace . . .
." Looking forward to reading it all! App

How does the Fury work with other Fury's in a Fury
pace line?

Dear Meb,

Presumably furiously.

Actually, I'd be afraid to play peleton-tag with tires so
knobby that Charlton Heston would have been proud to use
them in those chariot-racing scenes in "Ben-Hur."

The bolt-upright mountain-bike position probably reduces the
aerodynamic advantages of wheel-sucking.

I wonder if anyone ever drafted another penny-farthing
rider?

Boadicea

On 19 Mar 2004 13:30:05 -0800, [email hidden] (Carl Fogel)

Quoted message said:

The bolt-upright mountain-bike position probably reduces
the aerodynamic advantages of wheel-sucking.

I suspect quite the opposite -- bolt-upright position gets
MORE benefit from a paceline. That's based on my uneducated
guess that a paceline's gain is mostly against the aero
losses from the riders' bodies.
--
Rick Onanian

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Rick Onanian
On 19 Mar 2004 13:30:05 -0800, [email hidden] (Carl Fogel)

Quoted message said:

The bolt-upright mountain-bike position probably reduces
the aerodynamic advantages of wheel-sucking.

I suspect quite the opposite -- bolt-upright position gets
MORE benefit from a paceline. That's based on my uneducated
guess that a paceline's gain is mostly against the aero
losses from the riders' bodies.
--
Rick Onanian

Dear Rick,

You may be right, but here's my theory.

Wheelsucking depends on getting noses
as close as possible to tails. On a touring
bike, Lance's face is a lot closer to the shorts
of his domestique than is possible when he
takes a secret upright spin on his Fury
Roadmaster.

Below are three hunched-over touring
bicyclists, drawn in beautiful ASCII detail:

o'''o o'''o o'''o

Here are the same three riders sitting
upright on identical Fury Roadmasters:

| | |
o' 'o o' 'o o' 'o

The bolt-upright torsos of the mountain-bike
riders would be roughly a full bike-length
apart (plus the distance between the tires).

I suspect that they would be too far apart to
take full advantage of being in the low-pressure
area just behind the rider ahead of them at
normal speeds.

Perhaps some gregarious mountain-bike riders
will take pity on our ignorance and let us know
how well drafting works for them on pavement.

Murray Toadmaster

carlfogel said:

I suspect that they would be too far apart to take full
advantage of being in the low-pressure area just behind the
rider ahead of them at normal speeds.

I imagine the low-pressure area is enlarged by the much
larger cross-section. I don't imagine that it would be
sufficient, but...

Quoted message said:

Perhaps some gregarious mountain-bike riders will take pity
on our ignorance and let us know how well drafting works
for them on pavement.

...Come to think of it, I did it once on an aborted group
off-road ride where we rode the street for a couple miles at
the end. I had forgotten until now. It did seem to
help...but that's entirely subjective. I have no
measurements or data to back it up.
--
Rick Onanian

Ed <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

As expected, my times on my flat 4.06-mile daily jaunt
are ruled by the wind. The bolt-upright position of the
pseudo-mountain-bike is as sensitive as a sailing ship to
the breeze. (Laying my left arm upward across my chest,
fingers on my right collar-bone, reduces wind drag--look
out, Cobb-position aficionados!)

So far, my fastest time is 12:31 on an almost windless
day, averaging a sizzling 19.46 mph and reaching all of
22.6 mph near the end of the long, smooth backstretch
behind the zoo.

Today, a stiff zephyr lowered my overall time over half a
minute to 13:06, but my speedometer recorded a new
maximum of 27.7 mph, a fine pace, to be sure, but not
enough to make up for the struggle in the other direction
at only 15 to 17 mph. (Even higher speeds may be possible
with higher gearing, but I'm saving myself for Battle
Mountain.)

How does your speed compare to your old bike? What speed
gain can someone willing to spend one or two orders of
magnitude more for a bike expect?

Dear Ed,

A private email informed me that the answer that you longed
for showed up on some news servers, such as cycling forums,
but not on others, such as google groups, presumably having
fallen through some computer crack. So here it is again
below, in all its glory.

Carl Fogel

Dear Ed,

You pander to the basest fantasies of those with too much
time and too many spreadsheets--thanks!

At the beginning of the year, I kept a ludicrously detailed
spreadsheet of my normal 15-mile ride, which includes about
500 feet of climbing.

After two weeks, the figures confirmed that the wind was
what mattered, and I felt too senile to keep seven sets of
times in my head on every ride, but luckily the spreadsheet
remains and indicates that I averaged 23.45 mph for the last
1.00 miles from the fourth speed bump in the park behind the
zoo through nine turns to my garage door.

The Fury Roadmaster achieves a credible 18.88 mph for the
extra daily 4.06 mile route that ends with the same mile
without any climb of more than a foot or two.

Any fit young rider would undoubtedly improve my times.

Of course, my $225 + $25 shipping used Schwinn LeTour 98
from eBay is not exactly an order of magnitude more costly
than the $57.71 pride of China (tax included).

I suspect that in normal commuting with stop signs and
traffic lights and female construction workers whistling at
my bare legs, the speed difference would drop.

If I ever take the Fury Roadmaster out into the wilds of the
countryside, I expect that its speed will suffer. Despite
its rugged appearance, it might prove reluctant to climb the
ridge west of town.

So far, however, I confine it to a route roughly similar to
what I pedalled to school as a boy over thirty years ago,
four miles of level suburban asphalt. No tools, no tubes, no
spare Kevlar bead tire, no patches, no pump, no cleats, no
water bottle--well, the last two aren't featured on my
normal ride, so perhaps I shouldn't include them.

I see two ways to look at the nearly 5 mph difference.

If I could urge the Fury Roadmaster to a steady 23.45 mph
for four miles, I might be able to keep Lance in sight
briefly before succumbing to cardiac failure.

But despite the suicidal glory, my average 12:44 time would
drop less than three minutes to 9:58, not exactly an
impressive difference.

It's a bit like the basset hound's dilemma. What keeps

his front leg is the fact that his mate might murmur yes,
dear, but it's not as long as your ear, even though you trip
over both.

Fury Roadmaster--the basset hound of bicycling!

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

I see two ways to look at the nearly 5 mph difference.

Dear Carl:

Thank you for you reply regarding the speed difference
between the FR and your other bike. I have been collecting
observations of the speed advantge of road bikes over
mountain bikes.

I had been riding a no-suspension mountain bike with slick
tires for a few years. Last year I repaired an old road
bike and begain riding it part of the time. I have found no
speed difference between the two bikes which I crudely
measure by noting the average speed the bike computer has
at the end of the ride. I think this is because my bike
computer average speed on a perfectly flat route , about
12mph, is far less than yours, so it is not fast enough to
gain aerodynamic benefit.

The question of speed difference between mountain and road
bikes has come up in wreck.bike occasionally when bike
commuters ask about switching to road bikes. The consensis
is that there is a difference of two mph or so. A strong
rider (he easily did the 158 mile across Indiana one day
ride) guessed the difference between two and ten mph which
fits neatly with your observation of five mph.

***

I checked out a Fury Roadmaster at WM. The rear brake
required a substantial squeeze just to move the caliper. But
Sheldon tells us we should only use the front brake anyway
so maybe that is a positive for the FM.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Ed
>I see two ways to look at the nearly 5 mph difference.

Quoted message said:

Dear Carl:

Thank you for you reply regarding the speed difference
between the FR and your other bike. I have been collecting
observations of the speed advantge of road bikes over
mountain bikes.

I had been riding a no-suspension mountain bike with slick
tires for a few years. Last year I repaired an old road
bike and begain riding it part of the time. I have found no
speed difference between the two bikes which I crudely
measure by noting the average speed the bike computer has
at the end of the ride. I think this is because my bike
computer average speed on a perfectly flat route , about
12mph, is far less than yours, so it is not fast enough to
gain aerodynamic benefit.

The question of speed difference between mountain and road
bikes has come up in wreck.bike occasionally when bike
commuters ask about switching to road bikes. The consensis
is that there is a difference of two mph or so. A strong
rider (he easily did the 158 mile across Indiana one day
ride) guessed the difference between two and ten mph which
fits neatly with your observation of five mph.

***

I checked out a Fury Roadmaster at WM. The rear brake
required a substantial squeeze just to move the caliper. But
Sheldon tells us we should only use the front brake anyway
so maybe that is a positive for the FM.

Dear Ed,

I think that you have the right idea--the faster
the rider goes, the greater the aerodynamic
advantage of the touring bike's position.

However, it's not just aerodynamics. I suspect
that with a full-size crank and higher gearing,
the Fury Roadmaster would turn in even more
awesome times. My situation resembles that
of those drivers who equip their cars with
extra-small tires for aesthetic reasons.

Your slick tires probably help, too. With hot weather
coming early (84 degrees today), I expect that
the Fury Roadmaster's waffle-stompers will soon
be leaving distinct knobby marks in the tar on the
road cracks, somewhat like these nearby dinosaur
tracks:

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/coma/palo/index.shtml

Basically, Lance may have a good reason not
to ride his Fury Roadmaster in the Tour de France,
no matter how often he claims it's not about
the bike. It works fine, however, when he just
needs to pedal a mile or two in order to flex
his kidneys and produce a urine sample.

As for your unhappy experience at WalMart, I
cannot emphasize too much how important it
is to examine your potential Fury Roadmaster
with care, feeling the withers, checking the teeth,
listening to its lungs.

Just as no two buggy whips have the same feel,
no two Fury Roadmasters are quite the same.
I rejected the first one that I looked at because
its front tire went bump-bump-bump as I rolled it
around the showroom floor, perhaps deformed
from sitting against a metal railing for months.

Both my brakes work fine, so I expect that you
happened to try a lemon.

Carl Fogel

[email hidden] (Carl Fogel) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

[snip]

Afer a hundred miles, my Fury Roadmaster must now be
broken in, so I was alarmed today when a mysterious noise
suddenly appeared.

Tick, tick, tick.

Oh, no, I thought to myself, the shame--they were all right
about cheap WalMart bicycles not lasting!

Tick, tick, tick.

Perhaps I should stop and try to figure it out?

Tick, tick, tick.

I hear that sensible adults pull over and tend to their
vehicles instead of driving them to ruin.

Tick, tick, tick.

But if I pull over, I reasoned, the noise will stop, so
what's the point? I'll risk death and ride the last
block or two.

Tick, tick, tick.

Lance doesn't stop with the finish line in sight when
something starts making a funny noise.

Tick, tick, tick.

Missy Giove doesn't pull over and raise the hood when
she notices a faint sound while she's bombing down a
dry ski run.

Tick, tick, tick.

Possibly the speedometer pickup has shifted on its
improvised mounting, and the magnet is nicking it as the
front wheel turns?

Tick, tick, tick.

Maybe a spoke has broken, and its corpse is clicking
faintly? Or the now-out-of-true rim is bonking one of the
brake pads? Is a fractured fork leg creaking regularly as I
shift my weight while pedalling?

Tick, tick, tick.

Home and safe at last!

Flipping the Fury Roadmaster upside down, I inspected the
spokes, examined the speedometer magnet, checked the brakes,
and failed to reproduce the tick-tick-tick.

Hmmm . . .

The cause turned out to be a tire-colored pebble stuck
between the teeth of the Fury Roadmaster's savagely treaded
front tire.

Carl Fogel