diff --git a/lib/nuxt.js b/lib/nuxt.js
index 6415885000..a7f04242ae 100644
--- a/lib/nuxt.js
+++ b/lib/nuxt.js
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ class Nuxt {
       router: {
         mode: 'history',
         base: '/',
-        userSpecifiedBase: false,
         middleware: [],
         linkActiveClass: 'nuxt-link-active',
         linkExactActiveClass: 'nuxt-link-exact-active',
@@ -63,7 +62,9 @@ class Nuxt {
     // Sanitization
     if (options.loading === true) delete options.loading
     if (options.router && typeof options.router.middleware === 'string') options.router.middleware = [ options.router.middleware ]
-    if (options.router && typeof options.router.base === 'string') options.router.userSpecifiedBase = true
+    if (options.router && typeof options.router.base === 'string') {
+      this._routerBaseSpecified = true
+    }
     if (typeof options.transition === 'string') options.transition = { name: options.transition }
     this.options = _.defaultsDeep(options, defaults)
     // Env variables
diff --git a/lib/render.js b/lib/render.js
index 66d7fbf960..467ec9099c 100644
--- a/lib/render.js
+++ b/lib/render.js
@@ -22,34 +22,33 @@ export async function render (req, res) {
       }, 1000)
     })
   }
-  const self = this
   const context = getContext(req, res)
   res.statusCode = 200
   try {
-    if (self.dev) {
+    if (this.dev) {
       // Call webpack middleware only in development
-      await self.webpackDevMiddleware(req, res)
-      await self.webpackHotMiddleware(req, res)
+      await this.webpackDevMiddleware(req, res)
+      await this.webpackHotMiddleware(req, res)
     }
-    if (!self.dev && self.options.performance.gzip) {
-      await self.gzipMiddleware(req, res)
+    if (!this.dev && this.options.performance.gzip) {
+      await this.gzipMiddleware(req, res)
     }
     // If base in req.url, remove it for the middleware and vue-router
-    if (self.options.router.base !== '/' && req.url.indexOf(self.options.router.base) === 0) {
+    if (this.options.router.base !== '/' && req.url.indexOf(this.options.router.base) === 0) {
       // Compatibility with base url for dev server
-      req.url = req.url.replace(self.options.router.base, '/')
+      req.url = req.url.replace(this.options.router.base, '/')
     }
     // Serve static/ files
-    await self.serveStatic(req, res)
+    await this.serveStatic(req, res)
     // Serve .nuxt/dist/ files (only for production)
-    if (!self.dev && req.url.indexOf(self.options.build.publicPath) === 0) {
+    if (!this.dev && req.url.indexOf(this.options.build.publicPath) === 0) {
       const url = req.url
-      req.url = req.url.replace(self.options.build.publicPath, '/')
-      await self.serveStaticNuxt(req, res)
+      req.url = req.url.replace(this.options.build.publicPath, '/')
+      await this.serveStaticNuxt(req, res)
       /* istanbul ignore next */
       req.url = url
     }
-    if (this.dev && req.url.indexOf(self.options.build.publicPath) === 0 && req.url.includes('.hot-update.json')) {
+    if (this.dev && req.url.indexOf(this.options.build.publicPath) === 0 && req.url.includes('.hot-update.json')) {
       res.statusCode = 404
       return res.end()
     }
@@ -87,20 +86,19 @@ export async function renderRoute (url, context = {}) {
   context.url = url
   context.isServer = true
   // Call renderToString from the bundleRenderer and generate the HTML (will update the context as well)
-  const self = this
-  let APP = await self.renderToString(context)
+  let APP = await this.renderToString(context)
   if (!context.nuxt.serverRendered) {
     APP = '<div id="__nuxt"></div>'
   }
   const m = context.meta.inject()
   let HEAD = m.meta.text() + m.title.text() + m.link.text() + m.style.text() + m.script.text() + m.noscript.text()
-  if (self.options.router.userSpecifiedBase) {
-    HEAD += `<base href="${self.options.router.base}">`
+  if (this._routerBaseSpecified) {
+    HEAD += `<base href="${this.options.router.base}">`
   }
   HEAD += context.renderResourceHints() + context.renderStyles()
   APP += `<script type="text/javascript">window.__NUXT__=${serialize(context.nuxt, { isJSON: true })}</script>`
   APP += context.renderScripts()
-  const html = self.appTemplate({
+  const html = this.appTemplate({
     HTML_ATTRS: 'data-n-head-ssr ' + m.htmlAttrs.text(),
     BODY_ATTRS: m.bodyAttrs.text(),
     HEAD,