Originally Posted by
lasauge
Yep, the size and positioning of cantilever studs are standardized - you can swap in whatever cantis you like and they will work.
This isn't the whole story. The spacing between the posts has changed. Touring bikes from the 80s tend to have the studs spaced 65mm or so while mountain bikes and modern hybrids, cx and touring bikes seem to be in the 80+mm area. For example on a bianchi randonneur i had the only brakes that would work were vintage dia-compe becuase the posts were placed for 27" wheels. Modern cantis also didn't work on miyata 1000 because the posts were too close together. The shimano altus cantis are the only modern brakes I can think of that would work.
I highly recommend measuring your spacing on the studs before buying new brakes if the bike is from the 80s.