SK10ODA

I once hit a pheasant in an Audi TT* at around 50 mph - did all sorts of damage to both parties. This was in Wiltshire; I drove on to London and more or less forgot about it, but was sharply reminded when I got to townie-land and pulled into a petrol station: I hadn't realised the front of the car was covered in blood and guts, and people started pointing and screaming in horror. Most embarrassing. *clarification of poor syntax: I was the one in the Audi; the pheasant was on foot.

Quite so - they don't call him Rockhopper for nothing :yes:

Oops! Sorry, should be fixed now. Here's the link again: Martin

Do you mean this bit? Mike actually kept all four wheels on the ground over that big bump: Land Rover types would call this 'excellent axle articulation' and probably be highly impressed that the Yeti could keep all its paws gripping the earth. I'm with you though - the wheel-in-the-air action looks very cool I did miss one good wheel-up bit later when the camera fell off the dashboard! It amazed me that you really don't feel any loss of stability/traction when driving on three wheels. Driving home afterwards at motorways speeds in smooth, quiet comfort I was really quite moved by what a fantastic piece of engineering design the Yeti is, to have such breadth and depth of ability. Fantastic car. Thanks for the kind comments on the video!

*blushes* thanks, my pleasure - easy peasy on a Mac (Macdemon, are you out there? )

I like that tyre tree. As the time (finally) comes to swap back to summers, I'm slightly regretting just having the winter tyres put on to the standard rims instead of buying a set of steels (I was in a hurry). I could find a space for that Westfalia gadget IF ONLY I tidied up the garage a bit... :S

Great pics Johann! Huge thanks from me too - especially to James for organising, planning and guiding, but also to the rest of you for making it a great morning. It was really good to meet you. I'm still grinning, even after contemplating hours of pressure washing Here's my video: (If any of you guys would like the raw footage to edit in with your own, pm me your address and I'll ship a DVD - Rockhopper and AndyC, this would mostly apply to you as I was between you.)

Too right: tell the lad I'd like to see him land a helicopter on my shed. Won't turn out well.

Sorry to hear that - sympathy. Mine had its first birthday (counting from delivery date) on Tuesday - 17,000 miles on tarmac, sand and snow and so far nothing whatsoever has gone wrong. Urgently needs some new wiper blades and the attention of a vacuum cleaner, but that really is it. (Of course, now I've said that, the head gasket will blow next week and a wheel will fall off.)

Snap! I've got a black Street Triple too. Yes, both lights do come on as dipped headlights, automatically with the ignition. It's by no means just a Triumph thing, either. My (quick) reading of the regs is that there's 'no requirement' for a maximum number of lights for a motorbike. Most bikes you see with only one dipped headlamp on have been (legally) rewired to concentrate the limited power into that one adequate beam instead of two rubbish ones - Yamaha Fazer riders for example are practically riding blind in the dark on the factory two-dipped-beams set up. (Feel free to bring us back on topic any time you like Graham )

If it's that deep we'll just have to turn James's Skoda UK loan car upside down and use it as a raft Either way I think it should go back to Milton Keynes with a good coating of mud, to show it's been used as intended...

Thanks James, I just emailed you my details. Bockett's Farm car park at 9.30 Sunday morning, right? Not been to Bockett's before, but I found it on StreetView and I know that road so can't see any problems finding it. You'll be the guys in the Yetis, I presume... Really looking forward to it!

Room for one more? I thought I'd be away but plans have changed - SK10ODA is suitably waxed up (the car not me) and equipped with a tyre compressor. I've even still got the M+S winter tyres on - amply tested the S capabilities over Christmas, time to check out the M in some good old British mud. Martin

I can do Jan 29/30 or Feb 5/6 :yes:

It's not as if you're going to need to see whether it's safe to overtake very often. Meanwhile, remembering how the Yeti launched with a cuddly fluffy white snow monster, I wonder whether the Niva will come with a shirtless Vladimir Putin Action Man.