Building a wheel without a frame to hold it presents an obvious problem: the hub needs to spin freely while you work, but it also needs to stay put. Clamping an axle directly in a bench vise risks damaging the bearings or scratching the finish. The Park Tool DH-1 solves this by giving your truing stand a place to grab that isn't your actual hub.

The dummy hub replaces your wheel's real hub during the build process. You lace your spokes through the hub flanges as usual, then mount the rim and dummy hub assembly in a truing stand. This keeps your actual hub safe in its box, away from spoke wrenches, tensionometers, and the general chaos of a wheel build. Once the wheel is tensioned and trued, you unlace from the dummy hub and relace through your permanent hub. The spoke holes are already stretched, the nipples are seated, and you've worked out any rim irregularities before your good hub enters the picture.

The DH-1 works with standard truing stands that accept 9mm quick-release axles. The 36-hole flange pattern accommodates most wheel builds, though you're limited to that hole count. The 58mm flange diameter sits in a common range for road and mountain hubs, so your spoke lengths calculated for the dummy hub will be close to final specs—though you'll want to verify measurements against your actual hub before committing to a full build.... Read More