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So, I've never run across these kinds of cantis and was wondering if anyone had any pointers on adjustments or why they even exists? Thanks!

Cannondale called it "Force 40", Suntour called it a Power Hanger. Supposedly they increase mechanical advantage, but in practice you can see the yoke angle winds up narrower than you would use with a regular straddle cable, so it's a wash. There's also some brand of trail-a-bike tow bar that came with this as a cable routing kludge, because the trailer hitch was where the canti cable would otherwise be.

I've played with them and didn't like the effect especially when used with low-profile cantilevers. Very difficult to get centered -- often you wind up having to put spring ends in different holes on each side -- and then the pads wear unequally. (A setup like that can be useful to address squeal/shudder in front... but no reason to use it in the rear or this particular implementation)

My biggest tip on adjusting those is don't bother, replace the bell crank with a regular straddle cable and cable hanger off the seat bolt. (ETA: oh wait a seat bolt hanger won't work because that frame has some kind of rear suspension. In that case, I recommend getting a fork crown cable hanger and bolting it to the rear brake bridge. Or change your levers and go to V brakes.)

Those are old-school smooth-post cantilevers that were common before they started putting V-brake orbital adjustment brake pads on them. I believe Tektro still makes them, and until only a few years ago Surly was shipping them standard on their Cross-Check (one of the first things I ditched on that bike...).

Best advice I can give: Replace them with V-Brakes and the proper brake lever (as cantis and v-brakes typically use different amounts of pull)

wow, thanks for all the info zzyzx_xyzzy. I'd never come across something so kludgey before.