The Juno K was a deliberately elaborate bike in 1954. It was Honda's first scooter and would be competing with the well established Fuji Rabbit and Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon. It featured the first electric start, a full windscreen with a tilt-back sun-shade, and built-in signal lamps. It also introduced Fibre-Reinforced Plastic body construction to Japan.
Only 5,980 were produced in a year and a half. Kihachiro Kawashima, who retired as executive vice-president in 1979, remembered the bike as a "splendid failure": it was too expensive, the engine overheated, the FRP body was heavier than expected and made the bike underpowered and clumsy, the new cantilevered suspension was problematic, and customers did not like the motorcycle-style clutch operation.
The final Juno KB model can be distinguished by enlarged rear vents and new vents added to the windscreen.
Technology developed for the Juno K would be applied to later bikes. The electric start was re-introduced with the C71 Dream in 1957, and the new Plastics department under Shozo Tsuchida developed polyethylene components that would distinguish the Super Cub.
