diff --git a/path.go b/path.go
index d1f5962..a6bac7b 100644
--- a/path.go
+++ b/path.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 package gin
 
+const stackBufSize = 128
+
 // cleanPath is the URL version of path.Clean, it returns a canonical URL path
 // for p, eliminating . and .. elements.
 //
@@ -24,8 +26,11 @@ func cleanPath(p string) string {
 		return "/"
 	}
 
+	// Reasonably sized buffer on stack to avoid allocations in the common case.
+	// If a larger buffer is required, it gets allocated dynamically.
+	buf := make([]byte, 0, stackBufSize)
+
 	n := len(p)
-	var buf []byte
 
 	// Invariants:
 	//      reading from path; r is index of next byte to process.
@@ -37,7 +42,12 @@ func cleanPath(p string) string {
 
 	if p[0] != '/' {
 		r = 0
-		buf = make([]byte, n+1)
+
+		if n+1 > stackBufSize {
+			buf = make([]byte, n+1)
+		} else {
+			buf = buf[:n+1]
+		}
 		buf[0] = '/'
 	}
 
@@ -69,7 +79,7 @@ func cleanPath(p string) string {
 				// can backtrack
 				w--
 
-				if buf == nil {
+				if len(buf) == 0 {
 					for w > 1 && p[w] != '/' {
 						w--
 					}
@@ -103,7 +113,7 @@ func cleanPath(p string) string {
 		w++
 	}
 
-	if buf == nil {
+	if len(buf) == 0 {
 		return p[:w]
 	}
 	return string(buf[:w])
@@ -111,13 +121,20 @@ func cleanPath(p string) string {
 
 // internal helper to lazily create a buffer if necessary.
 func bufApp(buf *[]byte, s string, w int, c byte) {
-	if *buf == nil {
+	b := *buf
+	if len(b) == 0 {
 		if s[w] == c {
 			return
 		}
 
-		*buf = make([]byte, len(s))
-		copy(*buf, s[:w])
+		if l := len(s); l > cap(b) {
+			*buf = make([]byte, len(s))
+		} else {
+			*buf = (*buf)[:l]
+		}
+		b = *buf
+
+		copy(b, s[:w])
 	}
-	(*buf)[w] = c
+	b[w] = c
 }
diff --git a/path_test.go b/path_test.go
index c1e6ed4..caefd63 100644
--- a/path_test.go
+++ b/path_test.go
@@ -6,15 +6,17 @@
 package gin
 
 import (
-	"runtime"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
-var cleanTests = []struct {
+type cleanPathTest struct {
 	path, result string
-}{
+}
+
+var cleanTests = []cleanPathTest{
 	// Already clean
 	{"/", "/"},
 	{"/abc", "/abc"},
@@ -77,13 +79,62 @@ func TestPathCleanMallocs(t *testing.T) {
 	if testing.Short() {
 		t.Skip("skipping malloc count in short mode")
 	}
-	if runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0) > 1 {
-		t.Log("skipping AllocsPerRun checks; GOMAXPROCS>1")
-		return
-	}
 
 	for _, test := range cleanTests {
 		allocs := testing.AllocsPerRun(100, func() { cleanPath(test.result) })
 		assert.EqualValues(t, allocs, 0)
 	}
 }
+
+func BenchmarkPathClean(b *testing.B) {
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		for _, test := range cleanTests {
+			cleanPath(test.path)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func genLongPaths() (testPaths []cleanPathTest) {
+	for i := 1; i <= 1234; i++ {
+		ss := strings.Repeat("a", i)
+
+		correctPath := "/" + ss
+		testPaths = append(testPaths, cleanPathTest{
+			path:   correctPath,
+			result: correctPath,
+		}, cleanPathTest{
+			path:   ss,
+			result: correctPath,
+		}, cleanPathTest{
+			path:   "//" + ss,
+			result: correctPath,
+		}, cleanPathTest{
+			path:   "/" + ss + "/b/..",
+			result: correctPath,
+		})
+	}
+	return
+}
+
+func TestPathCleanLong(t *testing.T) {
+	cleanTests := genLongPaths()
+
+	for _, test := range cleanTests {
+		assert.Equal(t, test.result, cleanPath(test.path))
+		assert.Equal(t, test.result, cleanPath(test.result))
+	}
+}
+
+func BenchmarkPathCleanLong(b *testing.B) {
+	cleanTests := genLongPaths()
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	b.ReportAllocs()
+
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		for _, test := range cleanTests {
+			cleanPath(test.path)
+		}
+	}
+}