I don't see the relevance here, but 28. I am
not the best mechanic out there for sure, but I do have shop experience and
some technical ability (i.e. - I know how to cut cables, lube threaded parts, tap bb's, adjust cup and cones, etc.).
If installing these things exceeds the ability of so many people, I see this as a disadvantage - not something I need to spend more time working with to master.
Cantis still exist because they're more versatile - you can tune them to trade clearance for power, which is great for cross.
I can't argue with this, since a lot of people seem to like their cantilevers just fine.
My experience is just that these brakes require more technical expertise than probably 98% of cyclists have. I've just given up on them after seeing how a poorly adjusted v-brake can crush the power these things have after an hour of work.
Once again, this doesn't even touch on the idiocy of cantilevers requiring extra bends and threaded stops for barrel adjusters (when using road brake levers). Less power and more crap running along the housing to introduce more problems.