My bike is a touring frame, and it has the old school center-pull cantilever brakes. The brakes themselves are dia compe cantilevers. Instead of just a hole to put the brakepad post through they have a approx 8mm run where you can adjust the post down.

All in all, it was a great upgrade, and it was pretty simple. Much better stopping power, much lighter wheels (then the original steel chrome), and my choice of modern tires/drivetrain components.

If you have calipers, there are some med to long reach from tektro. I'm sure there are other brands too.

I know a lot of people had mixed results with the switch (I read information from everywhere) but I don't see what the big deal is, the whole upgrade took about 15 minutes of brake adjustment and I was good to go.