Originally Posted by
Arrowana
While your current brakes aren't very visible in the provided pictures, it looks like you might have a particular model of Shimano canti that is known for having plastic spring covers that like to break. If your brakes are branded Shimano, replacing them would be a smart idea, whether it be with V-Brakes, or a better set of cantis.
Agree 100%. At the nonprofits, I've had to discard and recycle far too many otherwise-nice Shimano cantilevers because the nearly 30-year-old rear spring housing broke, rendering them worthless.