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I saw on youTube that you can do this without even disconnecting the cables. Anybody had much success with this?
Depends if the cables are routed though the bars. Most aren't so you have no reason to disconnect.
Not directly but from when I replaced the shifters / levers on my road bike (from 105 5800 to R685) I don't see why you'd need to disconnect the cables for a bar swap- just undo the clamp bolts holding the units to the bars - remove levers then swap bars bolt the levers to the new bars.
However - unless your cables are already nice and new (swapping bars on a new bike for example) it would be a good opportunity to replace the cables as swapping the outers needs removing the bar tape.
It's pretty straightforward. Shimano shifters have a clamp accessed from the outer sides of the shifter. Brake levers have a clamp that needs the cables removed to access the bolt. Roll the back of the rubber hood back and you'll find the bolt. Slide down an allan key. Loosen bolt, slide down off the bars, slide back on and retape. Even easier with external gear cables, I've done it a few times. It's a sub-hr job. Sub 30 minutes when you are practiced.
Of course cables passing through bars (more common with carbon?) will scupper this. Still not a big deal unless you have internal cabling, and then it can be a nightmare 😈
Cheers guys. New build with new cables hence why not wanting to change them.