Pricing of the brands I've been looking at are Specialized > (Felt, Trek, Cannondale) > Giant. All of these manufacturers are reputable and make quality bikes. Ride them and pick the one that fits you best. It won't help if you buy a cheaper bike that doesn't fit and you don't ride. From what I've read, the equivalent Shimano components seem to be a bit better than SRAM. So the pecking order is probably 105 > Apex > Tiagra. SRAM has double tap which is different than Shimano. I've been test riding bikes recently and one of them was SRAM Red (high end). I didn't like it. My smaller hands prefer Shimano which requires less reach to shift, especially the front derailleur. Test ride them both.