brennab said:
I'm toying with the idea of getting a new custom frame or possibly a new bike. I'm very short (4' 11 1/2") and my current frame is 47 cm.
I'm assuming you're looking for a fast road/tri bike with a short top tube, comfortable ride, and handlebars set approximately level with the saddle.
My wife is 5'1" and just got an XS Litespeed Bella (titanium) with 650c wheels. It has a 49.5 cm top tube and a 70mm stem. With the standard 105 9spd group, it was priced at $2700 CDN at our LBS in Hull (my wife upgraded to Centaur).
Prior to the Litespeed, she was riding a custom 1990 Marinoni with a 700c rear wheel and 650c front. Marinoni is located just outside of Montreal and makes standard and custom bikes with 650c wheels for reasonable prices
http://www.marinoni.qc.ca/html/2005/05_en_geometrie.asp. Here's the price list from a large dealer in Toronto
http://www.bikespecialties.com/marinoni/pricechart.html.
We wanted to stick with 650c wheels to reduce pedal / front wheel overlap and steep seat tubes / slack head tubes that result from using 700c wheels on really small bikes.
Of the off-the-shelf bikes available in the Ottawa area, here are other bikes with short top tubes (48.5 - 49.5 cm) and low standover heights (i.e., 68 cm or 27") that we found. If you live in a larger city, you should have even more choices to test ride.
Bikes with 650c wheels
Cannondale R1000 Feminine:
http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/06/CUSA/model-6RW1c.html
Trek has a whole range of Womens Specific Bikes with the smallest sizes having 48.5 cm top tubes and 650c wheels:
http://www2.trekbikes.com/us/en/WSD/WSD_Bikes.php
Bikes with 700c wheels
Fuji has a couple of road bikes with short top tubes:
http://fujibikes.com/2006/road.asp
Specialized is introducing the Ruby for 2006:
http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=13732
Good luck in your search.