Cantilever Question
 

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The 983s are a nice looking brake. There's a thread with photos here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...tilever-brakes, but I don't think they're still in production.
So long as the bosses are for cantis (not u-brakes or braze-on centerpulls), any cantilever brake will work. If the fork or seat stays are unusually narrow, some brakes may be better suited than others, but 99% of the time, that's not an issue. The straddle cable needs to have a fixed end on it, as you only have an adjusting bolt on one side of each brake pair, so you can't simply use a short piece of brake cable there.

Cheap canti brake about $10 a pair. Use a straddle cable is it gives you something to grad on to to release the brakes for wheel removing.

Compatibility depends on the spacing of the bosses. For instance, I have a cyclocross frame from the 1980s that won't accommodate modern cantis as the bosses are too close together and the pads hit the tire, not the rim.

On that link, a lot of people say that the vintage canti's are a pain to adjust. Same for newer canti's?

i was outbid on some 983s a week or 2 ago on ebay. they go for $50+ NOS.

the cheapy shimano/tektro ones work just as well, and they are $10 new/wheel.

older ones only have an adjustment screw on one side, but that doesn't really make them that much harder to adjust.

My first touring bike had low end GC960 DC cantis:

http://velobase.com/CompImages/Brake...581423AFF.jpeg

They were a pain to adjust. The new Touring Series V has NCG982 cantis:

http://velobase.com/CompImages/Brake...9EFC13F25.jpeg

...wow, what a HUGE difference in getting them setup. The NGC cantis are FAR nicer.