diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9b8f9127..99c1fa9d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 Version 50
 
+* parser is constructible from other body types
+
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 Version 49
diff --git a/doc/5_http_examples.qbk b/doc/5_http_examples.qbk
index 32ea2411..f7dc75ff 100644
--- a/doc/5_http_examples.qbk
+++ b/doc/5_http_examples.qbk
@@ -44,29 +44,6 @@ synchronous version of this server action looks like this:
 
 
 
-[section Send Child Process Output]
-
-Sometimes it is necessary  to send a message whose body is not conveniently
-described by a single container. For example, when implementing an HTTP relay
-function a robust implementation needs to present body buffers individually
-as they become available from the downstream host. These buffers should be
-fixed in size, otherwise creating the unnecessary and inefficient burden of
-reading the complete message body before forwarding it to the upstream host.
-
-To enable these use-cases, the body type __buffer_body__ is provided. This
-body uses a caller-provided pointer and size instead of an owned container.
-To use this body, instantiate an instance of the serializer and fill in
-the pointer and size fields before calling a stream write function.
-
-This example reads from a child process and sends the output back in an
-HTTP response. The output of the process is sent as it becomes available:
-
-[http_sample_send_cgi_response]
-
-[endsect]
-
-
-
 [section HEAD request (Client)]
 
 The
@@ -134,6 +111,51 @@ parses an HTTP message from a `std::istream`:
 
 
 
+[section Send Child Process Output]
+
+Sometimes it is necessary  to send a message whose body is not conveniently
+described by a single container. For example, when implementing an HTTP relay
+function a robust implementation needs to present body buffers individually
+as they become available from the downstream host. These buffers should be
+fixed in size, otherwise creating the unnecessary and inefficient burden of
+reading the complete message body before forwarding it to the upstream host.
+
+To enable these use-cases, the body type __buffer_body__ is provided. This
+body uses a caller-provided pointer and size instead of an owned container.
+To use this body, instantiate an instance of the serializer and fill in
+the pointer and size fields before calling a stream write function.
+
+This example reads from a child process and sends the output back in an
+HTTP response. The output of the process is sent as it becomes available:
+
+[http_sample_send_cgi_response]
+
+[endsect]
+
+
+
+[section Defer Body Type]
+
+Sophisticated servers may wish to defer the choice of the Body template type
+until after the header is available. Then, a body type may be chosen
+depending on the header contents. For example, depending on the verb,
+target path, or target query parameters. To accomplish this, a parser
+is declared to read in the header only, using a trivial body type such as
+[link beast.ref.http__empty_body `empty_body`]. Then, a new parser is constructed
+from this existing parser where the body type is conditionally determined
+by information from the header or elsewhere.
+
+This example illustrates how a server may make the commitment of a body
+type depending on the method verb:
+
+[http_sample_defer_body]
+
+[endsect]
+
+
+
+
+
 [section HTTP Relay]
 
 An HTTP proxy acts as a relay between client and server. The proxy reads a
diff --git a/examples/doc_http_samples.hpp b/examples/doc_http_samples.hpp
index e717877e..4e31dcef 100644
--- a/examples/doc_http_samples.hpp
+++ b/examples/doc_http_samples.hpp
@@ -760,6 +760,100 @@ read_istream(
 
 //]
 
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//
+// Example: Deferred Body Type
+//
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+//[http_sample_defer_body
+
+/** Handle a form PUT request, choosing a body type depending on the Content-Type.
+
+    This reads a request from the input stream. If the method is POST, and
+    the Content-Type is "application/x-www-form-urlencoded  " or
+    "multipart/form-data", a `string_body` is used to receive and store
+    the message body. Otherwise, a `dynamic_body` is used to store the message
+    body. After the request is received, the handler will be invoked with the
+    request.
+
+    @param stream The stream to read from.
+
+    @param buffer The buffer to use for reading.
+
+    @param handler The handler to invoke when the request is complete.
+    The handler must be invokable with this signature:
+    @code
+    template<class Body>
+    void handler(request<Body>&& req);
+    @endcode
+
+    @throws system_error Thrown on failure.
+*/
+template<
+    class SyncReadStream,
+    class DynamicBuffer,
+    class Handler>
+void
+do_form_request(
+    SyncReadStream& stream,
+    DynamicBuffer& buffer,
+    Handler&& handler)
+{
+    // Start with an empty_body parser
+    request_parser<empty_body> req0;
+
+    // Read just the header. Otherwise, the empty_body
+    // would generate an error if body octets were received.
+    read_header(stream, buffer, req0);
+
+    // Choose a body depending on the method verb
+    switch(req0.get().method())
+    {
+    case verb::post:
+    {
+        // If this is not a form upload then use a string_body
+        if( req0.get().fields["Content-Type"] != "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" &&
+            req0.get().fields["Content-Type"] != "multipart/form-data")
+            goto do_string_body;
+
+        // Commit to string_body as the body type.
+        // As long as there are no body octets in the parser
+        // we are constructing from, no exception is thrown.
+        request_parser<string_body> req{std::move(req0)};
+
+        // Finish reading the message
+        read(stream, buffer, req);
+
+        // Call the handler. It can take ownership
+        // if desired, since we are calling release()
+        handler(req.release());
+        break;
+    }
+
+    do_string_body:
+    default:
+    {
+        // Commit to dynamic_body as the body type.
+        // As long as there are no body octets in the parser
+        // we are constructing from, no exception is thrown.
+        request_parser<dynamic_body> req{std::move(req0)};
+
+        // Finish reading the message
+        read(stream, buffer, req);
+
+        // Call the handler. It can take ownership
+        // if desired, since we are calling release()
+        handler(req.release());
+        break;
+    }
+    }
+}
+
+//]
+
+
+
 //------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //
 // Example: Custom Parser
diff --git a/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp b/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp
index 67dc4d92..9124edd4 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp
+++ b/include/beast/http/impl/parser.ipp
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 #ifndef BEAST_HTTP_IMPL_PARSER_IPP
 #define BEAST_HTTP_IMPL_PARSER_IPP
 
+#include <boost/throw_exception.hpp>
+#include <stdexcept>
+
 namespace beast {
 namespace http {
 
@@ -29,6 +32,20 @@ parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn)
 {
 }
 
+template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields>
+template<class OtherBody, class... Args>
+parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>::
+parser(parser<isRequest, OtherBody, Fields>&& parser,
+        Args&&... args)
+    : base_type(std::move(parser))
+    , m_(parser.release().base(),
+        std::forward<Args>(args)...)
+{
+    if(parser.wr_)
+        BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION(std::invalid_argument{
+            "moved-from parser has a body"});
+}
+
 template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields>
 template<class... Args>
 parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>::
diff --git a/include/beast/http/parser.hpp b/include/beast/http/parser.hpp
index 1f770602..3adab28f 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/parser.hpp
+++ b/include/beast/http/parser.hpp
@@ -199,6 +199,20 @@ private:
     }
 };
 
+template<
+    bool isRequest,class Body, class Fields = fields>
+class parser;
+
+namespace detail {
+
+template<class T>
+struct is_parser : std::false_type {};
+
+template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields>
+struct is_parser<parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>> : std::true_type {};
+
+} // detail
+
 /** An HTTP/1 parser for producing a message.
 
     This class uses the basic HTTP/1 wire format parser to convert
@@ -213,7 +227,7 @@ private:
 
     @note A new instance of the parser is required for each message.
 */
-template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields = fields>
+template<bool isRequest, class Body, class Fields>
 class parser
     : public basic_parser<isRequest,
         parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>>
@@ -224,6 +238,9 @@ class parser
     static_assert(is_body_writer<Body>::value,
         "BodyWriter requirements not met");
 
+    template<bool, class, class>
+    friend class parser;
+
     using base_type = basic_parser<isRequest,
         parser<isRequest, Body, Fields>>;
 
@@ -257,7 +274,7 @@ public:
 
         @note This function participates in overload
         resolution only if the first argument is not a
-        @ref http::header_parser or @ref parser.
+        @ref parser.
     */
 #if BEAST_DOXYGEN
     template<class... Args>
@@ -266,17 +283,50 @@ public:
 #else
     template<class Arg1, class... ArgN,
         class = typename std::enable_if<
-            ! std::is_same<typename
-                std::decay<Arg1>::type,
-                    header_parser<isRequest, Fields>>::value &&
-            ! std::is_same<typename
-                std::decay<Arg1>::type, parser>::value
-                    >::type>
+            ! detail::is_parser<typename
+                std::decay<Arg1>::type>::value>::type>
     explicit
     parser(Arg1&& arg1, ArgN&&... argn);
 #endif
 
-    /** Construct a message parser from a @ref header_parser.
+    /** Construct a parser from another parser, changing the Body type.
+
+        This constructs a new parser by move constructing the
+        header from another parser with a different body type. The
+        constructed-from parser must not have any parsed body octets or
+        initialized @b BodyWriter, otherwise an exception is generated.
+
+        @par Example
+        @code
+        // Deferred body type commitment
+        request_parser<empty_body> req0;
+        ...
+        request_parser<string_body> req{std::move(req0)};
+        @endcode
+
+        If an exception is thrown, the state of the constructed-from
+        parser is undefined.
+
+        @param parser The other parser to construct from. After
+        this call returns, the constructed-from parser may only
+        be destroyed.
+
+        @param args Optional arguments forwarded to the message
+        constructor.
+
+        @throws std::invalid_argument Thrown when the constructed-from
+        parser has already initialized a body writer.
+    */
+#if BEAST_DOXYGEN
+    template<class OtherBody, class... Args>
+#else
+    template<class OtherBody, class... Args>
+#endif
+    explicit
+    parser(parser<isRequest, OtherBody, Fields>&& parser,
+        Args&&... args);
+
+    /** Construct a parser from a @ref header_parser.
         @param parser The header parser to construct from.
         @param args Optional arguments forwarded to the message
         constructor.
diff --git a/test/http/doc_http_samples.cpp b/test/http/doc_http_samples.cpp
index f266bcc0..888895ec 100644
--- a/test/http/doc_http_samples.cpp
+++ b/test/http/doc_http_samples.cpp
@@ -220,11 +220,22 @@ public:
             });
     }
 
-    //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-    //
-    // Deferred Body type commitment
-    //
-    //--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    struct handler
+    {
+        std::string body;
+
+        template<class Body>
+        void
+        operator()(request<Body>&&)
+        {
+        }
+
+        void
+        operator()(request<string_body>&& req)
+        {
+            body = req.body;
+        }
+    };
 
     void
     doDeferredBody()
@@ -233,24 +244,15 @@ public:
         ostream(p.server.buffer) <<
             "POST / HTTP/1.1\r\n"
             "User-Agent: test\r\n"
+            "Content-Type: multipart/form-data\r\n"
             "Content-Length: 13\r\n"
             "\r\n"
             "Hello, world!";
 
+        handler h;
         flat_buffer buffer;
-        header_parser<true, fields> parser;
-        auto bytes_used =
-            read_some(p.server, buffer, parser);
-        buffer.consume(bytes_used);
-
-        request_parser<string_body> parser2(
-            std::move(parser));
-
-        while(! parser2.is_done())
-        {
-            bytes_used = read_some(p.server, buffer, parser2);
-            buffer.consume(bytes_used);
-        }
+        do_form_request(p.server, buffer, h);
+        BEAST_EXPECT(h.body == "Hello, world!");
     }
 
     //--------------------------------------------------------------------------