Am in the process of changing the bearings and chainstays for my Cotic hemlock. Have pushed bearings (6002-2RS) in completely but the existing washers are too thick for the new chainstays to fit. Am looking for quality washers (not stamped) that are a bit more narrow (perhaps 1.5mm or a 1mm plus a 0.5mm). Any suggestions where I can source them?

eBay or a bearing specialist/manufacturer.

Thanks for that – have found someone who will make custom washers on eBay but was expecting them to be stock items. Anyone else had similar issue?

Have you tried actually hammering the bearings in using a centre punch & hammer on the (outer race?) of the bearings? You may find this fully seats them so the washers should then fit?
I’ve had to do this in the past. Just work your way around the race tapping firmly.

Had a good go with threaded rod, washers, sockets etc and they don’t want to move any more – will try with punch too…

Just don’t put it through the bearing dust shield, that would be an idiotic thing to do…. 😳

I will watch that bigyinn – have to say I am paranoid about ruining the bearings – I have been forcing them in pretty hard using the threaded bar but so far they still run free…

As long as the part of the bearing that is being pushed in (usually the outer race) is fully support and the inner race is left alone they’ll be fine.