diff --git a/codec.go b/codec.go
index 9c0c5bc..fe672ac 100644
--- a/codec.go
+++ b/codec.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ func stringToBytes(s string) ([]byte, error) {
 	// consume trailing slashes
 	s = strings.TrimRight(s, "/")
 
-	b := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	var b bytes.Buffer
 	sp := strings.Split(s, "/")
 
 	if sp[0] != "" {