diff --git a/internal/backend/rclone/backend.go b/internal/backend/rclone/backend.go
index 52cd87f8c..8c1305f7f 100644
--- a/internal/backend/rclone/backend.go
+++ b/internal/backend/rclone/backend.go
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ func newBackend(cfg Config, lim limiter.Limiter) (*Backend, error) {
 	// send an HTTP request to the base URL, see if the server is there
 	client := &http.Client{
 		Transport: debug.RoundTripper(tr),
-		Timeout:   cfg.Timeout * 60 * time.Second,
+		Timeout:   cfg.Timeout,
 	}
 
 	// request a random file which does not exist. we just want to test when
diff --git a/internal/backend/rclone/config.go b/internal/backend/rclone/config.go
index 7b2b23efd..f8dc0d84d 100644
--- a/internal/backend/rclone/config.go
+++ b/internal/backend/rclone/config.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ var defaultConfig = Config{
 	Program:     "rclone",
 	Args:        "serve restic --stdio --b2-hard-delete",
 	Connections: 5,
-	Timeout:     "1m",
+	Timeout:     time.Minute,
 }
 
 func init() {