I believe by "centerpull" you actually mean "cantilever", which were the typical style used on MTBs in the early '90s. V-brakes provide more leverage for slowing/stopping with less lever force. Disc brakes took another step forward in the same way. Regardless of type, brakes are not an on/off switch. If that's how the brakes are behaving, they are either adjusted poorly, are poor quality, or the rider is poorly-skilled...possibly all 3.
Also, judging the quality of a certain type of brakes by using the example of bottom-end quality components is not a reasonable way to make this kind of judgement.
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Last edited by Eric F; 11-15-22 at 04:19 PM.