diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 8fc98bb..d889795 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ rvm:
 - 1.9.3
 - jruby
 - ree
+
+# upgrading bundler since our gemspec relying on lib/hermann_jars.rb being
+# present causes troubles with bundler .17.x
+before_install:
+    - gem install bundler -N --version ">= 1.8.0"
 #deploy:
 #  provider: rubygems
 #  gemspec: hermann.gemspec