My findings on SRAM AXS XPLR WIDE as 2X drivetrain with 10-36,10-33 cassettes

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CustomMetal
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by CustomMetal

Normally I am pretty cadane sensitive, but spin a high cadance (90-95) and am happy with how the bike rides, but then it is one of many bikes so I am only usuing it for my winter rides or gravel. I wouldn't be happy for racing (except for TT and Hill Climb) to be on 1x. If you are keeping the same cassette but going from a 40 to a 46 I would want a new chain. Keep the current chain in a box with the 40 tooth ring and save it for if you want to do some knarly gravel. I find it easier to chaing a chain ring with sram 1x than anything else
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Aurelia- Stainless All Road 8.5kg
Bertha- TT 9.8kg
Perdita- Ti Turbo bike 8kg
Serenity- Ti Gravel 9.5kg/8.9kg
Verity- Ti Aero 8.2kg
Alya- Ti Climbing TBC

All weights with pedals,cages & garmin mount

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CustomMetal
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by CustomMetal

Also bear in mind im on 650b 50mm slicks! if I was on 25mm 700c wheels I would be running a 50 tooth up front as I can push a big gear... Bear that in mind
Allegra- Steel Lugs TBC
Aurelia- Stainless All Road 8.5kg
Bertha- TT 9.8kg
Perdita- Ti Turbo bike 8kg
Serenity- Ti Gravel 9.5kg/8.9kg
Verity- Ti Aero 8.2kg
Alya- Ti Climbing TBC

All weights with pedals,cages & garmin mount

stjepan
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 10:04 am

by stjepan

CustomMetal wrote:
Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:41 pm
Normally I am pretty cadane sensitive, but spin a high cadance (90-95) and am happy with how the bike rides, but then it is one of many bikes so I am only usuing it for my winter rides or gravel. I wouldn't be happy for racing (except for TT and Hill Climb) to be on 1x. If you are keeping the same cassette but going from a 40 to a 46 I would want a new chain. Keep the current chain in a box with the 40 tooth ring and save it for if you want to do some knarly gravel. I find it easier to chaing a chain ring with sram 1x than anything else
Thanks for the update, appreciate time taken to reply!
I mainly try to go as fast as possible on my shorter rides, so this is where I think 46t ring would be beneficial. And this should be without compromising too much on the rolling hills (7-10% gradient on average) I mostly encounter on the weekend rides. Not sure I would be able to push 50t ring on those hills with just the 1x, to be honest.
I was planning to keep the 40t ring and the old chain for the gravel stuff. I have gravel specific wheels and a dedicated 10/44 cassette for this too.
One more question - how about if I swap the existing 10/44 cassette on my road wheels with the 10/36 one (to be used with this new 46t ring)? I would be loosing some bailout gears with that combination but should have tighter spacing and should find my cadence easier. Is my reasoning on the right track?

robtrail
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Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:29 pm

by robtrail

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to give my 2 cents here: I have an AXS rival 36T setup on my bike with 10-36 cassette, flat top chain and 30-46 GRX crankset and I can confirm that shifting is great! Not a single problem with it, the only adjustment I made was that I cut the chain not in the big/big combo, instead I set the chain in the 2nd biggest cog and big ring, it will prevent me from over stretch the RD and will keep the chain tension fine in all combinations.

Now my question to you guys is: could be possible for a 36T RD to handle a 10-44T with the 30-46 GRX in the front? Or should I move to an XPLR RD?

jfranci3
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

I've had pretty good luck with using the flat top chain anywhere. It seems the biggest issue with the flat top chain is that Eagle RD uses a narrow/wide on the top pulley. You just need to use a standard top pulley that has space under where the chain contacts (it leave room under the chain contact area rathern then having some width there). 2x chainrings won't care because the teeth are pointier. The 1x chainrings don't seem to mind it. The cassettes don't need to care either. The chain may not be landing all the way into the rings, but it doesn't seem to hurt anything.

DaveS
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by DaveS

For those who don't know, Shimano grx 46/30 cranks work just fine with axs. You get more range with no other change. The rings can be adjusted to normal road bike chain line with 2mm washers behind the crank bolts. I've run this setup for years with a 10-36 and 33T capacity RD. Flat top chain works with these cranks.

If an xplr RD is used, you don't want a jockey pulley made for 1x only.

Also, every inch of chain added or removed will change the wrap capacity by 4T. Use the chain length formula rather than guess at it.

DawnBat
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Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2023 1:22 am

by DawnBat

Anyone use the shimano RD and chain with xplr cassette?
Flattop chain is a bit expensive and I don't use the AXS RD with unique jockey.
I know the eagle chain is compatibile with xplr, but have no idea about shimano chain and xplr cassette.
If they are not compatible, I will buy some cheap Aliexpress MTB cassette. : /

dfrim
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2023 6:24 am

by dfrim

I now have a Sram Rival Wide XPLR 1x groupset on my bike.
Cassette 10-44 / Chainrings 42T.

I would like to know if I can modify / add the front derailleur and crankset 30/48?
I would change the rear cassette for a 10-36.

Does the Rival XPLR only work with a 1x crank

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MayhemSWE
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by MayhemSWE

dfrim wrote:
Thu Sep 07, 2023 7:50 am
Does the Rival XPLR only work with a 1x crank
Officially yes. People say it works with an FD anyway, but as it isn't designed for it (higher clutch tension, different cage movement) there is bound to be a compromise somewhere. Also you never know if SRAM should decide to suddenly lock out such a combination in a future firmware update.

Tifosiphil
Posts: 359
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2018 11:09 pm

by Tifosiphil

I'm looking at going with the XPLR rear mech and sram setup as my Ti bike isn't drilled for DI2. My wheels however aren't XDR compatible.

Has anyone tested running the Deore cassette instead of the PG-1231 option? With this setup would you recommend running a flat-top chain or would I be better on the XX1 chain

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FIJIGabe
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by FIJIGabe

Even if your bike isn't "drilled" for Di2 doesn't mean you can't run it. What are you running?

BalticSea
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by BalticSea

Tifosiphil wrote:
Thu Sep 14, 2023 9:33 am
I'm looking at going with the XPLR rear mech and sram setup as my Ti bike isn't drilled for DI2. My wheels however aren't XDR compatible.

Has anyone tested running the Deore cassette instead of the PG-1231 option? With this setup would you recommend running a flat-top chain or would I be better on the XX1 chain
PG-1231 cassette is HG compatible (it doesn't have 11t cog), so it's not an issue if your wheels aren't XDR compatible.

DaveS
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Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 1:26 pm
Location: Loveland Colorado

by DaveS

Here's an update on a new setup for my road bike that gives me a 675% range with a standard 2x FD, 46/30 grx crank and force road RD (not XPLR) with an extended range RD cage from cycleschinook.com to allow the use of a 10-44 cassette. A wolf tooth road link is also need to lower the upper jockey pulley to clear the 44T sprocket. With these parts and a chain length sized for the big/big, it will shift through every gear combination from the 30/11 to the 46/44. I did this so I can pedal at 80 rpm and 7kph up the steepest climbs I have to negotiate. The standard cage has a length of 70mm. The new one is 93mm long with 12/14T pulleys.

satanas
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Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2020 5:45 pm

by satanas

Interesting! That cage might help with gravel/touring gearing too. I wonder why they say the XPLR RDs won't work as I thought the only significant differences were the length of the mounting knuckle, the cage geometry, and (maybe) the parallelogram angle. I'd prefer to avoid using a Roadlink if possible as I got really crappy shifting across the whole cassette when I had one with Shimano 11 speed. Presumably one could just use the GRX rings (or TA 44x28) with the normal GRX chainline and use a SRAM Wide FD for more tyre clearance. I'd probably use an Ingrid 11-44 cassette rather than SRAM as the middle gears are much better spaced (for me anyway).

qwertzuiop
Posts: 26
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:12 am

by qwertzuiop

I sometimes run 1x XPLR with the RED 10-33 casette. You can adjust the rear der down to 7mm distance to the largest cog (7mm is what SRAM suggests). I haven't dropped a chain yet. Would this combination work with a FD?

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