I'm overhauling an early 1990s Bridgestone MB-1 that has been well loved, and customized, over the years. So the stem may not be original. In any case, I've never seen one like it and am hoping someone else has. in appearance it is a standard 1" quill stem, but instead of a regular allen-type quill bolt, inside the body (when looking down from top of bike) there's a soft black plastic cap that seems to be spring loaded. I flipped the bike over and it looked like i needed to loosen the quill from underneath--i could see there was a small nut on the end of a bolt (this is with the bike flipped over and looking down into the steer tube from between the forks). i loosened it what i judged to be enough, flipped the bike back over and gave the stem a gentle whack, but it didn't give. i wanted to seek sage council before i went any further.

has anyone seen a stem like this? advice on removal?

My 3TTT quill has a plastic cover over the allen bolt. You just pick it out to use in the normal way.

sounds like somebody previously stripped the quill chuck and nutted the bolt? I could be wrong-- but the spring stuff sounds like fluff --- if the stem does not budge-- you could be in for de- budging

Photos help.

well, i spose i oughta fess up--g piny parnas was right, the spring thing was a ruse--i pried it out, and the rubber washer on top of it, and found a standard quill head (insert egg on face joke here). of course when i loosened it i discovered the stem was frozen. doh! one problem exchanged for another. luckily there are plenty of threads on stuck stem removal for me to check out.