Originally Posted by HTupolev

That's not quite how it works. In order to pedal powerfully and efficiently, you want certain parts of your body to be within certain angles relative to each other. Making a fit more aggressive by extending reach tends to break this; simply leaning your torso down can make you more aero, but it also makes it hard to pedal.

The easiest way to fit a too-large frame to a rider is usually, roughly speaking, to raise the handlebars to them, making things feel fairly reclined. Track racers often use too-small frames because they easily get an aggressive fit.

Got pics of your bikes from the side, that show how the saddles and handlebars were positioned relative to everything?