Be aware that all Olympic bar sleeve and plate hole diameters are not the same. Most lifters are under the assumption that Olympic bar sleeves are all 2" or 1-15/16" in diameter. In fact, York builds their bar sleeves to 1.9375" in diameter. Ivanko, Eleiko, Leoko, and other officially accepted Olympic equipment manufacturers build their bars to the official Olympic standard – that requires the sleeves to be within a tolerance of 1.945-1.951" in diameter. These manufacturers also use tighter plate hole diameters both to fit the bars snuggly and to meet the official Olympic specifications. Their plates are very accurate and cost nominally $1.00 per pound. Less expensive off-the-shelf, garden variety Olympic plates usually cost $0.50 or less per pound and have hole diameters greater than 2". Which plates do you have? If in doubt, measure the hole diameter.

To reduce your equipment cost, PDA uses a full 2" Olympic sleeve diameter whenever possible. This sleeve size accounts for the large majority of users. To accommodate owners of the specific, more expensive bars mentioned above, we provide a ‘1.95" sleeve adder’ as noted in our specifications and pricing. This represents the additional expense of machining the sleeves down to 1.95".

If you are using the inexpensive, large hole diameter plates, you will be fine with the full 2" diameter sleeves. If you have or intend to use any of the specific plates mentioned above, you must have the 1.95" PDA sleeves or your plates will not fit. If you do not currently have but are considering purchasing one of the finer plates mentioned above, 1.95" sleeves assure your plates will fit regardless of what you decide to purchase later.

Know your bar sleeve and plate hole diameters. You are responsible for ordering the correct equipment.