I have Weinmann center-pulls calipers on a few bikes and I find them superior to any of the early single-pivot side pull brakes - including 1960s-80s Campagnolo NR/SR. You might almost view them as a variant of cantilever brakes, but with the pivots attached to a single central yoke rather than frame mounted bosses. I always feel very confident making sudden emergency stops in city traffic or when making very fast descents on local mountain roads. They have been in use on my daily commuter bike for years, and have never let me down.
I would... 1.) make certain that your cables and housings are in top condition. 2.) Lubricate the caliper spring pivot points, and clean and lube the pivot bushings of the arms. 3.) Even if your old pads look hardly worn, simply replace them anyway. Pads can dry, harden, and the rubber can glaze over without even giving the appearance of being worn or old. 4.) Adjust your brake levers so they do not feel too "spongy" or require too much pull. Center-pulls will never have that "power-brake" instant-grabbing "feel" of modern dual-pivot brakes, but they are still VERY powerful.
One very inexpensive, currently produced, brake pad & holder replacement which I know of the is the "X-caliper" model made by Jagwire. These are as close as one can hope for to the original black Weinmann "X" pads which were used on virtually all Weinmann brakes for over 25 years, and (IMHO) they seem every bit as effective.
You really could select most any replacement pads. But I would recommend mainly trying to approximate the depth/height of the older pads - by which I mean the distance from the caliper arm to the rim contact surface of the rubber. Unlike Mafac calipers, the Weinmanns you cannot adjust the angle of approach of the pads. Some very slim/flat modern cartridge-type pads & holders, intended for modern brakes (which always remain very close to a rim when released) can change the angle at which the arms will reach toward the rim and prevent the pad from making full contact against the rim. And you definitely want to ensure a nice flat contact "footprint" with most of the rubber pressing against the rim.
Center-pull brakes had eventually become so very common on so many lower range bikes during the 1970s that both Weinmann [Raleigh & Motobecane] and Mafac [Peugeot] center-pulls gradually came to be regarded as cheap or second rate brakes. However, they were not so easily disregarded even after Campagnolo brakes became more increasingly accepted by the Pro racers.
Weinmanns were even offered with brazed-on bosses as an option on ultra-expensive Rene Herse bikes
like this one... and one similarly mounted version of the basic Mafac center-pull, was used on Thevenet's Tour de France winning Peugeot in 1975. This was also later offered on the top-end
Peugeot PY-10 bikes of the late 1970s - a very slick look... which I would STILL consider if I were having a bike custom built today!
Ah yes, I do love old center-pulls!
Since this subject has come up, here is my single-photo
hommage showing the humble
Weinmann X-pad evolution.
