Two cents from a older newbie.
About 5 years ago I thought about getting into riding again and day trips. I bought for almost nothing a old fairly high quality mtn bike KHS and absolutely hated everything about it except the gearing. Frame was way too small, the stem way to long, saddle to hard, and tires to soft etc. I upgraded to road tires a fat seat, upright stem, and riser bars. The difference was like night and day for me at that time, my abilities then and age. Constantly experimenting with the fit and reading on line fitting tips, sometimes ran counter intuitively to what one would think. Seat angle as mentioned above being one but also seat position front to back. My thoughts were always to take pressure off hands and arms move forward and in doing so you are moving the crank effectively backwards and taking strain off your core muscles and putting it on your arms. Not that my core was or is to strong but getting balance over the saddle is amazing when you hit your sweet spot. I also found multiple hand positions a must and added the bar ends with extensions for a upright stretch position. With time and learning the effects of wind you will start making lower posture changes.
With wanting to ride longer distance and multi day rides with gear I found the Windsor and once again hated the ride position. Drop bars were quite an adjustment to say the least. Once I found my balance point in the new saddle it was fairly nice riding from the tops as I saw most people doing but I much preferred the drops all except how low they put me. I added an adjustable stem that allowed the bars to be raised enough that the drops are at saddle height not the tops. Things kept feeling better. I loved the STI shifters but never liked riding on the hoods. As I was now feeling good about staying in the drops a good deal of the time I lowered the STI's a good amount and the ergonomics were perfect for me. I thought about something like a cyclocross brake leaver on the top just to use for light braking or holding the bike when pushing and mounting and ended up using a mtn bike lever with dual cable.
The adjustable quill (stem) was bought as a way to see what worked and eventually replacing it with a fixed one, but I find myself still tweaking into lower settings so it will stay for now. It's very secure just maybe a bit heavy. I haven't experienced any of the "squirrely" steering issues mentioned above yet but seldom go downhill faster than 30MPH.
The final icing on the cake was when I did my bar wrap. I added extra pad (1/4" self stick foam from hardware store) in the pressure point spots under the bar tape. Well the second icing was dropping the 30T chain ring to a 26T, but that’s not fitting just old age.
My point in posting is IMHO everyone is dealt a different body starting into this, and a professional fitting if they take into account everything is a great thing to have done. There is also something to be said for learning as you go and making changes as you improve. Hope this helps someone reading and I'm sure I have committed many bike fitting crimes in my process. But whatever works I say.
First and Second bike below.
