Honda Juno
The Honda Juno is a scooter. Twa versions wur produced, the K-series o 1954 (K, KA, KB), an the M-series o 1962 (M80, M85).
Juno K
eeditThe Juno K wis a deliberately elaborate bike in 1954. It wis Honda's first scooter an wad be competin wi the well establisht Fuji Rabbit an Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon. It featurt the first electric stairt, a full windscreen wi a tilt-back sun-shade, an biggit-in signal lamps. It an aa introduced Fibre-Reinforced Plastic body construction tae Japan.[1]
Ae 5,980 wur produced in a year an a hauf. Kihachiro Kawashima, who retired as executive vice-preses in 1979, remembered the bike as a "splendid failure": it wis too expensive, the ingine owerheatit, the FRP body wis hivier than expectit an made the bike unnerpouered an clumsy, the new cantilevered suspension wis problematic, an customers did no lik the motorcycle-style clutch operation.[2][3]
The final Juno KB model can be distinguisht bi enlairged rear vents an new vents addit tae the windscreen.
Technology developt for the Juno K wad be applee'd tae later bikes. The electric stairt wis re-introduced wi the C71 Dream in 1957, an the new Plastics department unner Shozo Tsuchida developt polyethylene components that wad distinguish the Super Cub.[4][5]
Juno M80/M85
eeditThe Juno M80/M85 wis a different approach introduced in November 1961. Unlik the K-series, thare is nae upper windscreen, the ingine is an exposed horizontal-twin rather than an enclosed fan-cooled unit, an the body construction is conventional monocoque steel rather than FRP panels ower tube. The M80/M85 an aa introduced a clutchless Badalini-teep hydraulic-mechanical transmission which wad provide the basis for the later Hondamatic motorcycle transmissions.[6]
The M80 an M85 are essentially the same vehicle, wi the M85 designation indicatin a mid-year ingine enlairgement. The Juno wis discontinued bi year-end wi ae 5,880 produced.[7]
References
eedit- ↑ "Innovations". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- ↑ "Production". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- ↑ "Failure". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- ↑ "Electric Start". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- ↑ "Plastics". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- ↑ "Transmission". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- ↑ "Production". Honda. Retrieved 22 Februar 2008.
- Juno K-series specifications frae thir Honda pages on 2008-02-22:
- Juno M-series specifications frae thir Honda pages on 2008-02-22:
External links
eedit- (in Japanese) Gallery detailing the restoration of a Juno M85 Archived 2008-03-06 at the Wayback Machine