I just got a 2011 Roubaix Elite Apex and so far so good. I test road the 105, Ultegra, and the Rival and although all of them were fine, I prefered the SRAM shifting. I ordered the Specialized bike without trying the APEX. I'm new to road bikes, but I was not disappointed... the shifting is quick and very close to Rival. The compact gearing is very good... I haven't done any steep climbs yet, but there seems to be 6-7 lower gears that I haven't even used. It seems you should run out of range at either end and the jumps between gears don't seem to be too much.