canti brakes are weaker than calipers, even if you use avid shorty 6 or tektro cr720, it's just that they have better mud shedding than calipers.
+1,000...from the man who has recently been careening through corners with little to no brakes with both Avid Shorty 4's and Tektro 720.....
They just don't stop like road calipers.
And if you want to low rent a cross bike....have fun. Your challenges will be with the frame. After all that's about the only thing that's fundamentaly different between road and cross. Did I type fundamentally? I meant to type drastically. My bad.