V brakes were a huge improvement over cantilever because they didn’t require a cable stop that moved along with the swing arm of a MTB. It’s nice that they work really well too. They are long cable pull because the arms need to be tall enough to clear a balloon tire plus maybe a fender. I have some of the short ones that work with road levers on my XR800 because the cantis interfered with the kid seat. They’re also lovely.