diff --git a/rest_framework/request.py b/rest_framework/request.py
index 98a70eb3a..76bf496ce 100644
--- a/rest_framework/request.py
+++ b/rest_framework/request.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def clone_request(request, method):
     ret._full_data = request._full_data
     ret._content_type = request._content_type
     ret._stream = request._stream
-    ret._method = method
+    ret.method = method
     if hasattr(request, '_user'):
         ret._user = request._user
     if hasattr(request, '_auth'):
@@ -139,7 +139,6 @@ class Request(object):
         self._data = Empty
         self._files = Empty
         self._full_data = Empty
-        self._method = Empty
         self._content_type = Empty
         self._stream = Empty
 
diff --git a/tests/test_request.py b/tests/test_request.py
index c328460f3..49f99a832 100644
--- a/tests/test_request.py
+++ b/tests/test_request.py
@@ -3,27 +3,22 @@ Tests for content parsing, and form-overloaded content parsing.
 """
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
-import json
-from io import BytesIO
-
 import django
 import pytest
 from django.conf.urls import url
 from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, login, logout
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User
 from django.contrib.sessions.middleware import SessionMiddleware
-from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIRequest
 from django.test import TestCase
 from django.utils import six
 
 from rest_framework import status
 from rest_framework.authentication import SessionAuthentication
 from rest_framework.parsers import (
-    BaseParser, FormParser, JSONParser, MultiPartParser
+    BaseParser, FormParser, MultiPartParser
 )
-from rest_framework.request import Empty, Request
+from rest_framework.request import Request
 from rest_framework.response import Response
-from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from rest_framework.test import APIClient, APIRequestFactory
 from rest_framework.views import APIView