That's super kooky looking, but I like. The brake action must be nice and smooth. That Surly hanger is a great product, whether on the front or the rear.
I found a nice extra long headset mounted canti cable hanger at Velo Orange that is working pretty well; it also has a barrel adjuster.
WHen using a conventional hanger, you might also try routing the cable for a front canti brake from out beneath the bar tape, over top of the stem and then around to the hanger. This takes out a good deal of the awkward kinking by increasing the radius of the housing's arc, and it looks trick/ bike nerdish.
I hate to say this given your stated dislike of the Big T, but for canti brakes on my xcheck, nothing I've found beats Tektro CR-720 wide profiles. They are so much brake for so little. The wide profile gets me great power and modulation while (apparently) all but eliminating squeal. stock pads are crap, but everyone who knows whats what will be running koolstops with whatever brake anyways.
Last edited by mander; 09-09-10 at 08:38 PM.