diff --git a/index/scorch/segment/zap/build.go b/index/scorch/segment/zap/build.go
index 361e56e5..404ec869 100644
--- a/index/scorch/segment/zap/build.go
+++ b/index/scorch/segment/zap/build.go
@@ -394,13 +394,12 @@ func persistPostingDetails(memSegment *mem.Segment, w *CountHashWriter, chunkFac
 
 func persistPostingsLocs(memSegment *mem.Segment, w *CountHashWriter) (rv []uint64, err error) {
 	rv = make([]uint64, 0, len(memSegment.PostingsLocs))
-	var reuseBuf bytes.Buffer
 	reuseBufVarint := make([]byte, binary.MaxVarintLen64)
 	for postingID := range memSegment.PostingsLocs {
 		// record where we start this posting loc
 		rv = append(rv, uint64(w.Count()))
 		// write out the length and bitmap
-		_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(memSegment.PostingsLocs[postingID], w, &reuseBuf, reuseBufVarint)
+		_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(memSegment.PostingsLocs[postingID], w, reuseBufVarint)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -411,7 +410,6 @@ func persistPostingsLocs(memSegment *mem.Segment, w *CountHashWriter) (rv []uint
 func persistPostingsLists(memSegment *mem.Segment, w *CountHashWriter,
 	postingsListLocs, freqOffsets, locOffsets []uint64) (rv []uint64, err error) {
 	rv = make([]uint64, 0, len(memSegment.Postings))
-	var reuseBuf bytes.Buffer
 	reuseBufVarint := make([]byte, binary.MaxVarintLen64)
 	for postingID := range memSegment.Postings {
 		// record where we start this posting list
@@ -425,7 +423,7 @@ func persistPostingsLists(memSegment *mem.Segment, w *CountHashWriter,
 		}
 
 		// write out the length and bitmap
-		_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(memSegment.Postings[postingID], w, &reuseBuf, reuseBufVarint)
+		_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(memSegment.Postings[postingID], w, reuseBufVarint)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
diff --git a/index/scorch/segment/zap/merge.go b/index/scorch/segment/zap/merge.go
index 5066dfb9..3a0577cd 100644
--- a/index/scorch/segment/zap/merge.go
+++ b/index/scorch/segment/zap/merge.go
@@ -160,7 +160,6 @@ func persistMergedRest(segments []*SegmentBase, dropsIn []*roaring.Bitmap,
 	newSegDocCount uint64, chunkFactor uint32,
 	w *CountHashWriter) ([]uint64, uint64, error) {
 
-	var bufReuse bytes.Buffer
 	var bufMaxVarintLen64 []byte = make([]byte, binary.MaxVarintLen64)
 
 	var postings *PostingsList
@@ -247,7 +246,7 @@ func persistMergedRest(segments []*SegmentBase, dropsIn []*roaring.Bitmap,
 					return err
 				}
 				postingLocOffset := uint64(w.Count())
-				_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(newRoaringLocs, w, &bufReuse, bufMaxVarintLen64)
+				_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(newRoaringLocs, w, bufMaxVarintLen64)
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
@@ -271,7 +270,7 @@ func persistMergedRest(segments []*SegmentBase, dropsIn []*roaring.Bitmap,
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
-				_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(newRoaring, w, &bufReuse, bufMaxVarintLen64)
+				_, err = writeRoaringWithLen(newRoaring, w, bufMaxVarintLen64)
 				if err != nil {
 					return err
 				}
diff --git a/index/scorch/segment/zap/write.go b/index/scorch/segment/zap/write.go
index c5316a99..7f4f5a88 100644
--- a/index/scorch/segment/zap/write.go
+++ b/index/scorch/segment/zap/write.go
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@
 package zap
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"io"
 
@@ -25,28 +24,29 @@ import (
 // writes out the length of the roaring bitmap in bytes as varint
 // then writes out the roaring bitmap itself
 func writeRoaringWithLen(r *roaring.Bitmap, w io.Writer,
-	reuseBuf *bytes.Buffer, reuseBufVarint []byte) (int, error) {
-	reuseBuf.Reset()
-
-	// write out postings list to memory so we know the len
-	postingsListLen, err := r.WriteTo(reuseBuf)
+	reuseBufVarint []byte) (int, error) {
+	buf, err := r.ToBytes()
 	if err != nil {
 		return 0, err
 	}
+
 	var tw int
-	// write out the length of this postings list
-	n := binary.PutUvarint(reuseBufVarint, uint64(postingsListLen))
+
+	// write out the length
+	n := binary.PutUvarint(reuseBufVarint, uint64(len(buf)))
 	nw, err := w.Write(reuseBufVarint[:n])
 	tw += nw
 	if err != nil {
 		return tw, err
 	}
-	// write out the postings list itself
-	nw, err = w.Write(reuseBuf.Bytes())
+
+	// write out the roaring bytes
+	nw, err = w.Write(buf)
 	tw += nw
 	if err != nil {
 		return tw, err
 	}
+
 	return tw, nil
 }