Apex or 5700 for commuting and winter training?

parajba

I'm rebuilding my commuter (14,000 km per year) and winter bike. I narrowed the choice down to either an Apex or a Shimano 5700.
I have Red on my race bike and like it. I currently have 5600 on the commuter and whilst I don't mind it mechanically, I don't like the shape of the hoods (too big).

The price diff between my 2 options is around £150. I'd appreciate comments re durability and performance of the Apex for commuting. I guess it's shifting will be similar to my current Red (from 2009)?

mroli

Got Apex on my cross bike. Never missed a beat. I'm not brilliant at the differences between groupsets, but I have Apex to Force on my bikes and don't really notice any difference...

night_porter

I have Red on my best bike and Rival on my commuter and although you can tell that the Red is much smoother and quicker the hand position and the shape of the hoods is the same. To be honest this is the most important factor as you are using the hoods most of the time whereas changing gear is a lot less. It wouldn't surprise me if the Rival changes "bedded" in to be similarly smooth though.

Stick with Apex if you like the hand position.

southdownswolf

If you like the hoods on the Red, then I would stick with Apex. Why are you finding a £150 price diff? The Apex should be able to be had for about £450

backo

Have apex on my winter/commuter and a mix of red/force on my sunday best.

Other than the red brakes, I can honestly tell no difference performance wise between the two. (maybe slightly crisper shifting on the red but very minimal difference).

If you like the hoods and the SRAM double tap shifters then stick with apex, although if you do get apex, like I did...you will probably wonder why on earth you spent loads on red in the first place! (other than the brakes of course)

thebadgerboy1982

I ran sram apex on my winter bike last year. Good groupset and I agree that the shifting is good and no noticeable difference vs 2011 red. But, with grim salty and crap covered roads, apex didn't last that long even with regular cleaning. The brake pivots seized, front derailleur rusted, chain and cassette rusted. The rear deraileur and shifters were fine. I'd spend slightly more and go sram rival. I've has this on my cross bike for 3 years and has performed very well with no signs of corrosion.
Ross

parajba

Thanks all for the replies.

Given that I really like the shape of Sram hoods I ordered a mix of Apex/Rival/Force based on reviews and best prices. I didn't want to buy a complete Apex groupset because I'm very fussy about chainset and cassette ratios (I only use KNC chains and 12-23 cassette).

In the end I bought:

- Apex shifters
- Rival RD
- Force FD
- Apex 39/53 crankset
- Rival brake callipers
(6700 12-23 cassette, KMC chain).

Pretty happy with choice. I believe the above mix will work well, bit of an overkill for commuting (28 + 28 km daily), buy overall price comparable to 5700.

asprilla

thebadgerboy1982 wrote:

I ran sram apex on my winter bike last year. Good groupset and I agree that the shifting is good and no noticeable difference vs 2011 red. But, with grim salty and crap covered roads, apex didn't last that long even with regular cleaning. The brake pivots seized, front derailleur rusted, chain and cassette rusted. The rear deraileur and shifters were fine. I'd spend slightly more and go sram rival. I've has this on my cross bike for 3 years and has performed very well with no signs of corrosion.
Ross

I use Apex on my CX and my Ti commuter. The commuter has about 10,000 miles on it over the last two years and other then changing cassette and chain twice I've not had any of the issues you've listed. I'm rubbish with my cleaning and maintenance these days too.

wishitwasallflat

I've had APEX on my bike and I commute in pretty much all weathers and had to change chain and cassette at normal distances. FD died at around 5-6k miles and I replaced it with Force and its much better than APEX ever was. Rd was going strong till recently damaged when an idjit driver hit me - it will be replaced with Force too.

bikingjohn

Try the brake levers and choose whichever fits you. Both are great and reliable.

bendertherobot

+1 to the previous post. I've commuted on both. They're equally reliable and durable.

For me Apex is just that bit nicer on the drops. I also found that Apex levers worked better with getting BB7 brakes to have less lever travel. But that's a personal thing.