diff --git a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java
index c9835677ea..af4819c3a1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java
@@ -264,10 +264,9 @@ private <T> T _to(String tailApiUrl, Class<T> type, T instance) throws IOExcepti
      */
     public int asHttpStatusCode(String tailApiUrl) throws IOException {
         while (true) {// loop while API rate limit is hit
+            method("GET");
             setupConnection(root.getApiURL(tailApiUrl));
 
-            uc.setRequestMethod("GET");
-
             buildRequest();
 
             try {
@@ -280,12 +279,10 @@ public int asHttpStatusCode(String tailApiUrl) throws IOException {
 
     public InputStream asStream(String tailApiUrl) throws IOException {
         while (true) {// loop while API rate limit is hit
+            method("GET");  // if the download link is encoded with a token on the query string, the default behavior of POST will fail
             setupConnection(root.getApiURL(tailApiUrl));
 
-            // if the download link is encoded with a token on the query string, the default behavior of POST will fail
-            uc.setRequestMethod("GET");
-            
-            buildRequest();        
+            buildRequest();
          
             try {
                 return wrapStream(uc.getInputStream());