diff --git a/lib/oauth.js b/lib/oauth.js
index f31a49b..71ae3c9 100644
--- a/lib/oauth.js
+++ b/lib/oauth.js
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ exports.OAuth.prototype._normalizeUrl= function(url) {
            port= ":" + parsedUrl.port;
          }
    }
+
+  if( !parsedUrl.pathname  || parsedUrl.pathname == "" ) parsedUrl.pathname ="/";
+   
   return parsedUrl.protocol + "//" + parsedUrl.hostname + port + parsedUrl.pathname;
 }
 
diff --git a/spec/spec.oauth.js b/spec/spec.oauth.js
index 6e379a7..3ba75ee 100644
--- a/spec/spec.oauth.js
+++ b/spec/spec.oauth.js
@@ -1,24 +1,26 @@
 describe 'node-oauth'
   before_each
     OAuth= require('oauth').OAuth
+    oa= new OAuth(null, null, null, null, null, "HMAC-SHA1");
   end
   describe 'Auth'
     describe 'OAuth'
       it 'should generate the signature base string described in http://oauth.net/core/1.0/#sig_base_example'
-        var result= new OAuth()._createSignatureBase("GET", "http://photos.example.net/photos", 
+        var result= oa._createSignatureBase("GET", "http://photos.example.net/photos", 
                                             "file=vacation.jpg&oauth_consumer_key=dpf43f3p2l4k3l03&oauth_nonce=kllo9940pd9333jh&oauth_signature_method=HMAC-SHA1&oauth_timestamp=1191242096&oauth_token=nnch734d00sl2jdk&oauth_version=1.0&size=original")
         result.should.eql "GET&http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.example.net%2Fphotos&file%3Dvacation.jpg%26oauth_consumer_key%3Ddpf43f3p2l4k3l03%26oauth_nonce%3Dkllo9940pd9333jh%26oauth_signature_method%3DHMAC-SHA1%26oauth_timestamp%3D1191242096%26oauth_token%3Dnnch734d00sl2jdk%26oauth_version%3D1.0%26size%3Doriginal"
       end
       describe 'Url normalisation'
         it 'should strip default ports from urls for use in signature generation'
-          var oa= new OAuth();
           oa._normalizeUrl("https://somehost.com:443/foo/bar").should_be "https://somehost.com/foo/bar"
         end
         it 'should leave in non-default ports from urls for use in signature generation'
-          var oa= new OAuth();
           oa._normalizeUrl("https://somehost.com:446/foo/bar").should_be "https://somehost.com:446/foo/bar"
           oa._normalizeUrl("http://somehost.com:81/foo/bar").should_be "http://somehost.com:81/foo/bar"
         end
+        it 'should ensure that there exists a trailing slash when no path at all is present'
+          oa._normalizeUrl("http://somehost.com").should_be "http://somehost.com/"
+        end
       end
     end
   end