Ciufalon

I have a beautiful old mountain bike that is pretty much set up as a touring bike and it is an ideal bike for such. I have been thinking about slotting the cable guides by using a Dremel with a cutting wheel so it would be possible for me to switch back and forth between trekking bars and drop bars whenever I desire using cable connectors. Would it be as easy as think? Just cut the slots, touch up paint and away I go with setting up as I want to? Is the steel used for cable guides too tough to cut this way?

dsaul

If you mean making one of these.
Into one of these.

Go right ahead. A dremel will cut it with no problem. Just be careful not to slip and cut the frame tube.

retromike3

The hard parts already done. You already have a whole right in the center of the guide. The Dremel tool I use has a two half inch cutting wheel. When I'm doing steel I crank that baby is fast as fast as it will go, for me I think that's about 16,000 RPM. Watch out for those tiny red hot flakes of steel they shoot everywhere, so wear the eye gear and make sure it's done in a very well illuminated place.

you only get one chance at it so it's probably a good idea to go over the passes a couple of times before you actually turn the thing on. This way you know you won't have the unexpected bump or pull at the wrong time or place.

I remember doing something very close to that a few years ago and it worked okay for me.

Mike Frye the bike guy
A.K.A. Frye bikes

Andrew R Stewart 

One can wrap the frame with a beer can bandage on either side of the cable stop to reduce the chance of a booboo. I suggest that the beer be poured into a glass and consumed after the Dremelling is done. Andy.

Ciufalon

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate all the good advice and will certainly put it into practice when doing this.