diff --git a/src/urlMatcherFactory.js b/src/urlMatcherFactory.js
index 30ff0be0b..1c37c9f18 100644
--- a/src/urlMatcherFactory.js
+++ b/src/urlMatcherFactory.js
@@ -920,8 +920,6 @@ function $UrlMatcherFactory() {
     type = getType(config, type, location);
     var arrayMode = getArrayMode();
     type = arrayMode ? type.$asArray(arrayMode, location === "search") : type;
-    if (type.name === "string" && !arrayMode && location === "path" && config.value === undefined)
-      config.value = ""; // for 0.2.x; in 0.3.0+ do not automatically default to ""
     var isOptional = config.value !== undefined;
     var squash = getSquashPolicy(config, isOptional);
     var replace = getReplace(config, arrayMode, isOptional, squash);
diff --git a/test/urlMatcherFactorySpec.js b/test/urlMatcherFactorySpec.js
index 003d86edd..cd3e53172 100755
--- a/test/urlMatcherFactorySpec.js
+++ b/test/urlMatcherFactorySpec.js
@@ -156,7 +156,22 @@ describe("UrlMatcher", function () {
       var m = new UrlMatcher('/users/:id/details/{type}/{repeat:[0-9]+}?from&to');
       expect(m.exec('/users/123/details/what/thisShouldBeDigits', {})).toBeNull();
     });
+	
+    it("should not use optional regexp for '/'", function () {
+      var m = new UrlMatcher('/{language:(?:fr|en|de)}');
+      expect(m.exec('/', {})).toBeNull();
+    });
+	
+    it("should work with empty default value", function () {
+      var m = new UrlMatcher('/foo/:str', { params: { str: { value: "" } } });
+      expect(m.exec('/foo/', {})).toEqual({ str: "" });
+    });
 
+    it("should work with empty default value for regex", function () {
+      var m = new UrlMatcher('/foo/{param:(?:foo|bar|)}', { params: { param: { value: "" } } });
+      expect(m.exec('/foo/', {})).toEqual({ param: "" });
+    });
+	
     it("should treat the URL as already decoded and does not decode it further", function () {
       expect(new UrlMatcher('/users/:id').exec('/users/100%25', {})).toEqual({ id: '100%25'});
     });