I'm not sure what you mean by the linkage looking weird, but the brakes are mechanical because I've been building the bike up piece by piece on a budget, it used to be a stock Novara hardtail, and the brakes are doing just fine until I can afford some Juicy's or something =).

 Nice bike but there linkage looks weird, and why mechanical brakes ?

 How much travel do these have?

 i think i met you one time when you were on this bike