Some canti-equipped bikes are easier than others to switch from 27" to 700C. My Univega Gran Turismo was a piece of cake- just adjusted the pads.

The mid-80's Raleigh touring bikes are most definitely *not* easy. Even though the radial difference is only 4 mm, those 4mm just aren't there. You'll never get the pads flat to the rim with the original brakes. And nothing other than boutique brakes (Pauls, e.g.) will have the adjustment range to fit. The stud-to-rim-center measurement is just too dang small. I had to move the studs on my Raleigh Touring 18 (early Alyeska) (well, since I was moving the studs anyway, I went to 650B).

Love the 1st generation Deore! My bike has it too. I went to bar-end shifters and 7-speed on a modern 8-9-10 freehub (Tiagra). It requires a 4.5 mm spacer, and the dropouts need to be spread a little for the 130 mm OLD wheel to fit in the 126 mm OLD frame, but that's easy.