diff --git a/lib/gollum.rb b/lib/gollum.rb
index ca342ac9..1234830d 100644
--- a/lib/gollum.rb
+++ b/lib/gollum.rb
@@ -11,10 +11,6 @@ require 'sanitize'
 # internal
 require File.expand_path('../gollum/uri_encode_component', __FILE__)
 
-# Set ruby to UTF-8 mode
-# This is required for Ruby 1.8.7 which gollum still supports.
-$KCODE = 'U' if RUBY_VERSION[0, 3] == '1.8'
-
 module Gollum
   VERSION = '4.0.1'