Transitioning from hybrid to road/cyclocross

[Lady Hamilton]

Are you familiar with SRAM road shifters? They are different than Shimano in the way the work. Not everyone likes them. APEX is low end in the SRAM line, quality wise. Definitely not 105 level. I rode with Apex for two years on a Salsa Fargo. I sold the Fargo because it was just too expensive to switch everything over to 105. I get along great with SRAM MTB stuff, but not their road stuff. Just me, though. Some folks love the SRAM road stuff. Not knocking it. Just saying you might want to try before you buy if you haven't ridden with the SRAM double tap road stuff.

to be entirely honest with you, I was not even considering this particular bike. It is too large to start with and at this price point makes very little sense to me.

I went to a very large and reputable Trek and Cannondale dealer. I had a very long conversation with a gentleman there. They have quite a few bikes in my size from previous year and can get anything 2018 very quickly. After considering everything I had to say, they offered me a couple of very doable options with disks and Tiagra. One option is last year's Cannondale Synapse Disk. It basically ticks all the boxes, except the 105, and is priced very comfortably at $1300. Brand new 2018 is the same components, but $1600. There are a few differences, 2017 is 12-30 (2018 is 11-34 ), and 2017 uses 700X25 tires (2018's tires are 700X28). It looks like endurance bikes across the Trek, Cannondale, Specialized are really moving away from 700X25 tires, especially in their Disk models.
Or, altenatively, if I am willing to go up to $2000, there is Synapse Disk 105 (mechanical disks) or new Trek Domane Disk Tiagra (hydrolics). It's the basically the choice: better breaks or better gears.
I am still, obviously, undecided...