diff --git a/mercurial/logexchange.py b/mercurial/logexchange.py
--- a/mercurial/logexchange.py
+++ b/mercurial/logexchange.py
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
     rpath = remote
     if local:
         rpath = remote._repo.root
-    elif not isinstance(remote, str):
+    elif not isinstance(remote, bytes):
         rpath = remote._url
 
     # represent the remotepath with user defined path name if exists