I'm 5'3" with legs on the short side and I ride a 50 cm Cannondale Synapse. The standover height of the top tube is just slightly tall for me, but it fits me otherwise (and I *can* stand over it, just not with as much space as CW recommends). The 47 would definitely have been too small. I demo'ed a 48 cm Specialized Ruby last year, and it fit okay, but I definitely could've gone up to the next bigger frame size. All of these bikes have 700c wheels and I don't find them the least bit twitchy. I hadn't been on a road bike in 12 years before I rode the Specialized. It was a few months before I felt comfortable riding close side-by-side or in a tight paceline, but I think that had much more to do with the fact that my handling skills were EXTREMELY rusty, rather than any characteristics of the bike(s).