PLATE HOLE & BAR FITTING PROBLEMS.
On Olympic Plates
Occasionally, people will call us to say "Your plates will not fit on our bars!" We always wonder why they never say "Our bars do not fit into your plates." So what is the problem? The bar not fitting into the plates or plates not fitting on to the bars? Whichever way it is, it is still a problem if it does not fit.
Here are the facts:
The best Olympic bars made in the world, IVANKO, Eleiko, York and Uddeholm all measure between 49.5mm (1.949 in.) and 50mm (1.969 in.) diameter. The hole size of an IVANKO Olympic plate is 50.2mm (1.976 in.) minimum to 50.8mm (2.00 in.) maximum. These dimensions will fit on any of the top bars in the world.
So where problems usually occur is when people try to use our plates on cheap bars. In this case, the plates that are to the extreme maximum, 50.8mm (2.00 in.) may fit. The plates that at the minus side of the hole tolerance, 50.2mm (1.976 in.), will not.
Usually at this point, a customer will ask us why we do not just make the holes in our plates larger so that they can fit every bar? This is not what IVANKO is all about.
IVANKO is about accuracy: consistent measurement, close tolerance, and a proper fit. This is the intricate part of the IVANKO philosophy. We are not about to change it, just to fit a lot of the junk, cheap bars that are out in the stores. That is not a concern of ours.
On Regular Plates
The hole size of an IVANKO regular plate is 1-5/32 in. This is designed to fit the two popular bar sizes: 1 inch and 1-1/16 in. All IVANKO's regular bars are 1-1/16 in. diameter.
This is because it is approximately 15% stronger than a 1-inch bar. We feel this is necessary, especially on a barbell set that exceeds 110 lbs., to prevent the bar from bending. It is also essential for fixed weight barbells to have a close tolerance between the hole and bar. This way the plates do not tend to rock and force the washer off the end of the handle.
In this case, many manufacturers have a totally different philosophy than we do. They usually like to use 1-inch bars. A 1-inch bar has less material than a 1-1/16 in. bar and a 1-inch bar is 15% cheaper than 1-1/16 in. bar. So they save money using a 1-inch bar.
Instead of drilling plate holes to a perfect fit, they prefer to cast the holes into the plate. As a result, they usually have to be oversized so that any slag in the plate hole will not affect the fit on the bar. They make the hole as tight as possible so it will not flop over on 1-inch bar and give the appearance that it is cheap. Therefore, many of these plates will not fit on a 1-1/16 in. bar.
Our attitude is that we make products right from the very beginning. Others have made the product cheaper by cutting corners just to get a lower price. Cutting corners is not our way. And we cannot be held responsible when IVANKO plates do not fit on the cheap bars.