diff --git a/cid.go b/cid.go
index 2cfdb1b..786dbf9 100644
--- a/cid.go
+++ b/cid.go
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ func NewCidV1(codecType uint64, mhash mh.Multihash) Cid {
 // - version uvarint
 // - codec uvarint
 // - hash mh.Multihash
-type Cid struct{ string }
+type Cid struct{ str string }
 
 var Nil = Cid{}
 
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ func Cast(data []byte) (Cid, error) {
 
 // Version returns the Cid version.
 func (c Cid) Version() uint64 {
-	if len(c.string) == 34 && c.string[0] == 18 && c.string[1] == 32 {
+	if len(c.str) == 34 && c.str[0] == 18 && c.str[1] == 32 {
 		return 0
 	}
 	return 1
@@ -307,9 +307,8 @@ func (c Cid) Type() uint64 {
 	if c.Version() == 0 {
 		return DagProtobuf
 	}
-	bytes := c.Bytes()
-	_, n := binary.Uvarint(bytes)
-	codec, _ := binary.Uvarint(bytes[n:])
+	_, n := uvarint(c.str)
+	codec, _ := uvarint(c.str[n:])
 	return codec
 }
 
@@ -382,7 +381,7 @@ func (c Cid) Hash() mh.Multihash {
 // The output of bytes can be parsed back into a Cid
 // with Cast().
 func (c Cid) Bytes() []byte {
-	return []byte(c.string)
+	return []byte(c.str)
 }
 
 // Equals checks that two Cids are the same.
@@ -431,7 +430,7 @@ func (c Cid) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
 
 // KeyString returns the binary representation of the Cid as a string
 func (c Cid) KeyString() string {
-	return c.string
+	return c.str
 }
 
 // Loggable returns a Loggable (as defined by
diff --git a/varint.go b/varint.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..391c1f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/varint.go
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+package cid
+
+// Version of varint function that work with a string rather than
+// []byte to avoid unnecessary allocation
+
+// Copyright 2011 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license as given at https://golang.org/LICENSE
+
+// uvarint decodes a uint64 from buf and returns that value and the
+// number of characters read (> 0). If an error occurred, the value is 0
+// and the number of bytes n is <= 0 meaning:
+//
+// 	n == 0: buf too small
+// 	n  < 0: value larger than 64 bits (overflow)
+// 	        and -n is the number of bytes read
+//
+func uvarint(buf string) (uint64, int) {
+	var x uint64
+	var s uint
+	// we have a binary string so we can't use a range loope
+	for i := 0; i < len(buf); i++ {
+		b := buf[i]
+		if b < 0x80 {
+			if i > 9 || i == 9 && b > 1 {
+				return 0, -(i + 1) // overflow
+			}
+			return x | uint64(b)<<s, i + 1
+		}
+		x |= uint64(b&0x7f) << s
+		s += 7
+	}
+	return 0, 0
+}
diff --git a/varint_test.go b/varint_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47bb061
--- /dev/null
+++ b/varint_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package cid
+
+import (
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestUvarintRoundTrip(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := []uint64{0, 1, 2, 127, 128, 129, 255, 256, 257, 1<<63 - 1}
+	for _, tc := range testCases {
+		buf := make([]byte, 16)
+		binary.PutUvarint(buf, tc)
+		v, l1 := uvarint(string(buf))
+		_, l2 := binary.Uvarint(buf)
+		if tc != v {
+			t.Errorf("roundtrip failed expected %d but got %d", tc, v)
+		}
+		if l1 != l2 {
+			t.Errorf("length incorrect expected %d but got %d", l2, l1)
+		}
+	}
+}