Originally Posted by
icemilkcoffee
it’s not the same thing though. The wheel is massive enough that when you rotate the wheel it masks the roughness in the bearings. Whereas if you just rotate the axle you can feel the roughness or free play much more readily.
Absolutely correct. You use your fingers for a final check after you pull it from the stand and before you mount it on the bike. My truing stand is home made and works great with QR's. Plus it's always sitting out so it takes nothing to drop a wheel on even just for a quick check after changing tires or whatever reason for having a wheel off a bike.