I’d bet that the exact thickness varies from frame to frame. I start with a micrometer to measure washers and a range of different thickness of washers. From there is trial and error. If it is loose I’ll add a little and if it it tight I’ll remove a thousands or so. In the end I can tighten the bolts to their full recommended torque based on the size of the bolt without restricting bearing rotation or any looseness.
When I remove the caps for any reason I make sure to replace the spacer washers in the exact same place. They will likely be different on the right and left side of the same frame.
I tighten mine to the point that the bearing caps don’t move around when I try to wiggle them with my fingers and then maybe 1/8 turn more per bolt. My wheels all spin nicely and feel secure in the frame.
The thing about camber is that you will encounter much more of it off road than on road. Where I live it’s not at all unusual for the trails to have a significant sideways tilt, far more so than one would find on most roads. The biggest problem I find with the Hatchet and a 4.8" tire is that having to overpower the camber means you have to exert more energy to ride. So long as you’re on even ground I don’t think it takes significantly more energy to pedal, but once you have to stand up that’s when it gets exhausting to ride and on a Hatchet with a 4.8" tire you have to stand up more often.
My experience with camber off-road is that although there is lots of it and it’s sometimes quite severe, you’re normally changing your riding style and position all of the time to suit the terrain anyway, so I find it far less annoying than on road where a slightly cambered path might go on for miles.
Fair enough. I do the vast majority of my riding offroad, so miles of cambered roadway aren’t something I’ve had to deal with much. What I have found though is that the key to riding distance on trails is only standing up when it is necessary and I find that on the Hatchet it’s necessary far more often due to the effects of camber.
It all depends very much on your trails.
These days I’m generally riding serious off-road, where there aren’t many stretches with long sections of the same grade or camber, or on-road where there might be miles of the same.
Roads almost always have camber, as otherwise they’d end up coated wholly in surface water every time it rained, but it’s also typically to such a small degree that even camber sensitive tyres are mostly OK.
I’ve definitely been on trails that have large sections of mostly smooth ground where the camber is bothersome, but it’s not my regular riding.