No idea about this stem. I've never seen one like it before, with the letter "S" enclosed. Could be Suntour, I guess - maybe! - but I'm only saying that because the stem shifters are Suntour and the brake levers are Dia-Compe... so no brainer, right? Well the dang thing is on a 70's (I think) era Follis. Right... French! Since when do French bikes sport Japanese components? Sure, somebody could've swapped some stuff out, but looks to me like they must've done it thirty years ago if they did. Can't find this example on Velo-Base either. Anyone ever seen it before? ID? Very curious.

You could measure the stem diameter to see if it's in the French Mode.

Yup, and I plan to do just that later on this evening. (It's 110 in the garage at the moment.) But I'm mostly interested in the ID. Suntour? Simplex? Something else entirely? I seem to recall seeing this same thing come up on a thread several months, or a year ago, but I'm darned if I can locate the thread, and I don't recall if it was even identified back then either.

That S stands for Schwinn.

Omigod, the steering is totally bodgered! (Good thing no one was interested in my French stuff at today's swap meet.) I never even thought about Schwinn, and I've still never come across that stem before.

That is a Schwinn "Girder" design "S" stem (p/n 55 614), which had a 3.5" extension, a 7" vertical stem length, a 0.833" (21.15mm) quill diameter and which was used on most Schwinn lightweight bikes with 24" and larger frames from 1973 through 1976. Bikes using that stem during those years include the Sports Tourer, Super Sport, Sprint, and Continental. Note that only 24" and larger frame bikes received that stem, the 22" and smaller frame models used a rounded design "S" stem (p/n 55 615) with a shorter 2.75" extension and 6" vertical length. All of the girder (and most of the rounded) design "S" stems were stamped "Made in Britain" at the base of the quill and were made for Schwinn by GB (Gerry Burgess).

Excellent! And thanks! (I love the easy answers!)

Is there a shim between the GB 21.1mm quill and the 22.0mm follis steerer???

That's what threw me on this one, since I remembered seeing those stems on Continentals, which I was pretty sure were still .833" (21.1mm).

Yes, there is. I didn't see it until I began to yank on the stem. It's slowly coming out, and as it is I discovered the shim. Success #1: broke the stem loose. Success #2: the stem has budged about half an inch. Success #3: I didn't suffer heat stroke while muscling it around, although I undoubtedly lost five pounds in perspiration!

Dunno what I'm going to do with this, really. I've got a little soft spot for Follis, but this is a very entry level model and the paint is very marginal at best. Oh well, keeps me off the streets!

I may post pictures in a new thread later in the week and look for suggestions.