SRAM AXS XPLR with 2x chainring
 

I tried this yesterday (stand only, will take on road soon) and all seems to work out w/the exception of chain droop if on the small chainring and anything below 15t on the cassette. I will never use it in the combination but wanted to report what I found just in case anyone cared to know.

Parts I switched to: RD XPLR, xplr cassette, new chain

Really did not have to tweak anything besides minor micro adjustment on the RD. I paired the new setup in the SRAM App and could not get sequential shifting as it did not appear to be enabled in the app (it was when using 10-36 setup) so I will look into that today and see if it is an option. Possibly new FW may have removed that capability as I have read reports elsewhere that it worked in the past.
Any feedback would be great!

Original Setup
 

Forgot to add my original setup:

My setup: 2023 Trek Domane w/Rival AXS setup (originally 10-36 AXS non wide) with all FW up to date.

I've read of other people online using the XPLR successfully for 2x also. I don't think it's for me, especially since I've got a surplus of 36t RD's and 2x Axs cranksets already... but when you REALLY want that mega range for climbing, I imagine it's hard to beat a 33x44 on an all-road bike.

The XPLR RD lacks wrap capacity. I use both 33 and 36 tooth 2x RDs with a 10-44 cassette, by adding a wolf tooth road link and sequential mode to avoid the big/big. I hate sequential mode, so I took a step further with extended range RD cages from cycles Chinook. Now I have more than enough wrap capacity for a 46/30 and 10-44 cassette.

I set up my wife’s bike with 2x XPLR. It works fine with a 44-10 cassette. Except in the mud at Raputitsa. I still prefer 1x on gravel with a 44 x 52-10. It’s just simpler with less mechanical stuff to get screwed up in crap conditions.

>exception of chain droop if on the small chainring and anything below 15t on the cassette

I'm just running a shorter than recommended chain to combat this. I took out two links and am able to run the stock b-screw setting just fine. No issues in a couple hundred miles.

That's a great compromise, for sure. I wanted to get my wife the easiest gearing possible she could leverage when doing 15-20% grades. She is extremely strong but now that she's experiencing heat flashes and what-not, overheats pretty easy when pushing the cranks hard :)

I may have been wrong when I stated that sequential shifting was not selectable, it just didn't show the 44t cassette as an option.

I did look into this a bit further and seems the S/W knows that a 2x up front should not use a cassette larger than 36t.
I selected sequential shifting and chose the largest cassette available (36t) it now shifts the FD before the chain droop occurs.