I've gone for bolt cutters. Anyone who fully fits their guards, carefully marks the stays where they need to be trimmed, fully disassembles them, cuts the stays with a hacksaw, then refits them (as suggested by the instructions) is a fucking maniac.
(Also use Dremel to round off the ends so you don't repeatedly stab/scrape yourself on them or have to bother with plastic caps on the ends that always fall off anyway.)
Something to do over the course of an evening in a warm kitchen with a beer.
Trim the struts outside with a grinder the following day.