Dustin,
Not sure exactly what you mean about" what you got minus the hydrolic preload"? If you can clarify a little I would be happy to respond.
As far as they are concerned the quality of the Elka product is on par with any Ohlins on the market. John Sharrad has actually assisted Elka in the development of their valving and construction of their shocks over the past few years, and if you read anything up on him he really knows his S%&t!
As far as the price, it was $999.00 and I got the stage 4+hyd. Same price buying it from Acc Tech or from Elka direct. Advantage for me was they install, service and warantee their work as well as the shock, and if by chance it comes in with the wrong spring, they have them in stock and change them while you wait. Acc. Tech is truly a full service shop.
They only charge $80.00 per hour and although it took longer than expected, the amount i learned was well worth the extra cash.
As far as the front springs, they actually made custom spacers on site to make the new ones work just the way they (we) wanted them to.
Now that hey have installed mine, I'm sure their next install would be faster.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
At this point I have put about 600km's on the bike and am a happy man!