diff --git a/src/RequestHeaderParser.php b/src/RequestHeaderParser.php
index ca9d57f7..a0c32d20 100644
--- a/src/RequestHeaderParser.php
+++ b/src/RequestHeaderParser.php
@@ -12,26 +12,55 @@
  */
 class RequestHeaderParser extends EventEmitter
 {
+    /**
+     * While HTTP does not strictly specify max length for headers,
+     * most HTTP-server implementations use 8K. There are some using
+     * 4K though (eg nginx use system page size, that is usually around
+     * 4096 bytes)
+     */
+    const DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE = 4096;
+
+    /**
+     * Data buffer used to emit "data" event if we have read
+     * part of body while seeking headers end (\r\n\r\n)
+     *
+     * @var string
+     */
     private $buffer = '';
-    private $maxSize = 4096;
+
+    /**
+     * Maximum headers length
+     *
+     * @var int
+     */
+    private $maxSize;
+
+    /**
+     * @param int $maxSize
+     */
+    public function __construct(
+        $maxSize = self::DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE
+    ) {
+        $this->maxSize = $maxSize;
+    }
 
     public function feed($data)
     {
-        if (strlen($this->buffer) + strlen($data) > $this->maxSize) {
-            $this->emit('error', array(new \OverflowException("Maximum header size of {$this->maxSize} exceeded."), $this));
-            $this->removeAllListeners();
-            return;
-        }
+        try {
+            $this->buffer .= $data;
 
-        $this->buffer .= $data;
+            $headerLen = strpos($this->buffer, "\r\n\r\n");
 
-        if (false !== strpos($this->buffer, "\r\n\r\n")) {
-            try {
-                $this->parseAndEmitRequest();
-            } catch (Exception $exception) {
-                $this->emit('error', [$exception]);
+            if (($headerLen ?: strlen($this->buffer)) > $this->maxSize) {
+                throw new \OverflowException("Maximum header size of {$this->maxSize} exceeded.");
             }
 
+            if (false !== $headerLen) {
+                $this->parseAndEmitRequest();
+                $this->removeAllListeners();
+            }
+        } catch (Exception $exception) {
+            $this->emit('error', [$exception, $this]);
             $this->removeAllListeners();
         }
     }
@@ -72,4 +101,12 @@ public function parseRequest($data)
 
         return array($request, $bodyBuffer);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @return int
+     */
+    public function getMaxHeadersSize()
+    {
+        return $this->maxSize;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/RequestHeaderParserTest.php b/tests/RequestHeaderParserTest.php
index 807af42c..1f2bf156 100644
--- a/tests/RequestHeaderParserTest.php
+++ b/tests/RequestHeaderParserTest.php
@@ -96,12 +96,16 @@ public function testHeadersEventShouldParsePathAndQueryString()
         $this->assertSame($headers, $request->getHeaders());
     }
 
-    public function testHeaderOverflowShouldEmitError()
-    {
-        $error = null;
-        $passedParser = null;
+    /**
+     * @param RequestHeaderParser $parser
+     * @param string              $data
+     */
+    private function checkHeaderOverflowShouldEmitError(
+        RequestHeaderParser $parser,
+        $data
+    ) {
+        $error = $passedParser = null;
 
-        $parser = new RequestHeaderParser();
         $parser->on('headers', $this->expectCallableNever());
         $parser->on('error', function ($message, $parser) use (&$error, &$passedParser) {
             $error = $message;
@@ -111,16 +115,37 @@ public function testHeaderOverflowShouldEmitError()
         $this->assertSame(1, count($parser->listeners('headers')));
         $this->assertSame(1, count($parser->listeners('error')));
 
-        $data = str_repeat('A', 4097);
         $parser->feed($data);
 
         $this->assertInstanceOf('OverflowException', $error);
-        $this->assertSame('Maximum header size of 4096 exceeded.', $error->getMessage());
+        $this->assertSame(
+            sprintf('Maximum header size of %d exceeded.', $parser->getMaxHeadersSize()),
+            $error->getMessage()
+        );
         $this->assertSame($parser, $passedParser);
         $this->assertSame(0, count($parser->listeners('headers')));
         $this->assertSame(0, count($parser->listeners('error')));
     }
 
+    public function testHeaderOverflowShouldEmitErrorDefault()
+    {
+        /*
+         * This checks that exception is thrown if buffer exceeds header
+         * max length, but header end is still missing
+         */
+        $data = str_repeat('A', RequestHeaderParser::DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE + 1);
+        $this->checkHeaderOverflowShouldEmitError(new RequestHeaderParser(), $data);
+
+        /*
+         * This checks that exception is thrown if header size really exceeded
+         */
+        $data = str_pad($data . "\r\n\r\n", RequestHeaderParser::DEFAULT_HEADER_SIZE * 2, 'B');
+        $this->checkHeaderOverflowShouldEmitError(new RequestHeaderParser(), $data);
+
+        $data = str_repeat('A', 8096 + 1);
+        $this->checkHeaderOverflowShouldEmitError(new RequestHeaderParser(8096), $data);
+    }
+
     public function testGuzzleRequestParseException()
     {
         $error = null;
@@ -142,6 +167,31 @@ public function testGuzzleRequestParseException()
         $this->assertSame(0, count($parser->listeners('error')));
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Checks if HeaderParser supports data chunks of size
+     * bigger, than @see RequestHeaderParser::$maxSize option
+     *
+     * @url https://github.com/reactphp/http/issues/80
+     */
+    public function testHugeBodyFirstChunk()
+    {
+        $bodyBuffer = null;
+
+        $parser = new RequestHeaderParser();
+        $parser->on('headers', function ($parsedRequest, $parsedBodyBuffer) use (&$bodyBuffer) {
+            $bodyBuffer = $parsedBodyBuffer;
+        });
+        $parser->on('error', $this->expectCallableNever());
+
+        $data = $this->createGetRequest();
+        $headLength = strlen($data);
+        $totalLength = 4096 * 16;
+        $data = str_pad($data, $totalLength, "\0x00");
+        $parser->feed($data);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($totalLength - $headLength, strlen($bodyBuffer));
+    }
+
     private function createGetRequest()
     {
         $data = "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\n";