105 will keep on working for a loooing time, and feel sweet in doing so.

Apex will likely break just outside of warranty, causing the (very) expensive STI’s to need replacing.

Shimano feels a lot nicer, is more reliable, is cheaper to replace if anything goes wrong, and erm… Well!

Campag is also very nice to use if you can get used to the shift lever positions, though spares are more expensive too.

Apex is Ment as a wide range sportife group
But everything seems to be going that way now
For fit and forget I’d spend my money on shimano
For the commuter / trainer

But my heart and nice bike says campy rules

I have both Ultegra and Apex (on road bike and CX/winter hack respectively). Apex shifting works, but it feels very agricultural in comparison to Ultegra, or indeed to the Tiagra on my brother’s bike. The shape of the hoods and the double-tap shifting method are matters of taste I guess, but in both cases I strongly prefer the Shimano alternative.

All things being equal, an Apex bike would have to be a lot cheaper than a Shimano one for me to consider it. On the upside, it’s needed sod-all maintenance, but then so has the Shimano.

Apex is a compairable step down from 105 so definetly 105. The Sram 105 equivelent is Rival.

I have Rival on my cx bike and although it works well enough it is very clunky and agricultural. I also have Veloce and Ultrgra and would choose them over Sram every time.

What size of cassette will you be using now or in the future? I use Apex and Rival on the CX bike so I can use an 11-32 cassette.

I don’t mind the shifters but all else being equal, I would probably go 105 if I had an option, as the double tap is occasionally a pain, particularly when I have cold, wet, muddy hands. I think a Rival groupset is lighter than 105, but although the Apex groupset isn’t much heavier than Rival, I suspect it is a little heavier than 105?