[MorganRaider]

I am looking at getting a road bike. Had a detailed, professional fit done. They ran the comparator and found a performance Trek Madone is a perfect fit. Tried a (Performance Fit) Madone today with nearly same setup and found I was putting a lot of pressure on hands. I was being careful with posture and trying to use my core (very weak) but did not seem to help.

Then I hear this from two different fitters the following:
1. Elbows stiff, arms form 90 deg angle with torso. (This is the fitter I used)
2. Elbows bent, lightly rest hands, rely more on posture and core. don't necessarily need to have back totally flat.

So who is right ?

So is this normal to have the pressure on hands ? How does one alleviate it ?

Thanks,
Confused.

 

[Ventruck]

If I'm not taking things out of context, neither fitter is contradicting the other..more of complimenting each other.

I'm running with decent amount of drop, and my hands are relatively relaxed. It's a matter of distributing your weight (not hunching or "shrugging") and having a decent core+back to support yourself. I went from hybrid to road bike, and didn't have the pressure tendency based on such matters, though. Kept a firm grip in early ride because the road bike felt significantly more twitchy. So the adaptation may also come naturally.