diff --git a/http.js b/http.js
index 0dbcde2..70aedab 100644
--- a/http.js
+++ b/http.js
@@ -235,14 +235,16 @@ exports.normalizeRequest = function (request) {
     }
     if (request.url) {
         var url = URL.parse(request.url);
-        request.host = url.hostname;
-        request.port = url.port;
         request.ssl = url.protocol === "https:";
-        request.method = request.method || "GET";
+        request.host = url.hostname;
+        request.port = url.port || (request.ssl ? "443" : "80");
         request.path = (url.pathname || "") + (url.search || "");
-        request.headers = request.headers || {};
-        request.headers.host = url.hostname; // FIXME name consistency
     }
+    request.method = request.method || "GET";
+    request.port = request.port || "80";
+    request.path = request.path || "/";
+    request.headers = request.headers || {};
+    request.headers.host = request.headers.host || request.host;
     return request;
 };
 
@@ -276,21 +278,9 @@ exports.request = function (request) {
         request = exports.normalizeRequest(request);
 
         var deferred = Q.defer();
-        var ssl = request.ssl;
-        var http = ssl ? HTTPS : HTTP;
-
-        var headers = request.headers || {};
-
-        headers.host = headers.host || request.host;
+        var http = request.ssl ? HTTPS : HTTP;
 
-        var _request = http.request({
-            "host": request.host,
-            "port": request.port || (ssl ? 443 : 80),
-            "path": request.path || "/",
-            "method": request.method || "GET",
-            "headers": headers,
-            "agent": request.agent
-        }, function (_response) {
+        var _request = http.request(request, function (_response) {
             deferred.resolve(exports.ClientResponse(_response, request.charset));
             _response.on("error", function (error) {
                 // TODO find a better way to channel
diff --git a/spec/http/normalize-request-spec.js b/spec/http/normalize-request-spec.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..97de985
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/http/normalize-request-spec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+var normalizeRequest = require("../../http").normalizeRequest;
+
+describe("request normalization", function () {
+
+    it("must parse string HTTP URL into components", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest("http://google.com");
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must parse string HTTP URL with path into components with path specified", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest("http://google.com/search?q=q-io");
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must parse string HTTP URL with port into components with port specified", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest("http://google.com:8080/search?q=q-io");
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com:8080/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "8080",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must parse string HTTPS URL into components", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest("https://google.com");
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "https://google.com",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: true,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "443",
+            path: "/",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must parse string HTTPS URL with port into components with port overriden", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest("https://google.com:8080");
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "https://google.com:8080",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: true,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "8080",
+            path: "/",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must parse string HTTP URL of request object into components", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({ url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io" });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must preserve request method of request object with string HTTP URL", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            method: "POST",
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io"
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "POST",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must preserve host header of request object with string HTTP URL", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "yahoo.com" }
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "yahoo.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must ignore host of request object with string HTTP URL", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            host: "yahoo.com"
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must ignore port number of request object with string HTTP URL", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            port: "8080"
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must ignore path string of request object with string HTTP URL", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            path: "/"
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            url: "http://google.com/search?q=q-io",
+            method: "GET",
+            ssl: false,
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/search?q=q-io",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must fill all missing fields of request object", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            host: "google.com"
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            method: "GET",
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/",
+            headers: { host: "google.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+    it("must preserve host header of request object", function () {
+        var request = normalizeRequest({
+            host: "google.com",
+            headers: { host: "yahoo.com" }
+        });
+        expect(request).toEqual({
+            method: "GET",
+            host: "google.com",
+            port: "80",
+            path: "/",
+            headers: { host: "yahoo.com" }
+        });
+    });
+
+});
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