Transient creep (1) tests have been performed at the yield point of icosahedral AlCuFe poly-quasicrystalline specimens in order to investigate the actual causes of this phenomenon. The experimental results strongly suggest that the yield point occurrence is essentially related to the lack of dislocation mobility and that a competition does exist between dislocation velocity and short range recovery. (C) 2003 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.