I'm going to wade in on this one. The SESG is going to be somewhat firmer because the springs in either the shocks or the forks are already compressed to some extent because of the sag of the bike's weight, and it's 1" shorter to begin with, so gets into the "firm" part of the spring more quickly. That does not mean it reacts appropriately to the road surface. You have less travel on the suspension on an SG compared to an Ultra. Firmer is NOT necessarily better...it's more about how the suspension reacts to the road surface under any given situation. It is entirely possible to have a quality suspension on either model, but stock is not going to get it on either one. I have not felt the ride on the new SESG rear shocks, but the front end is still a piece of chit, comparitively. If you don't know any different, all is well. But, you can get a nice handling bike out of either configuration...with the right stuff. I am not dissing the SESG compared to the UC, or visa versa, I'm just saying that compared to a really good suspension, both of them suck. the SESG may suck less in some ways, and the UC in others...neither has to suck at all.