I tried and Terry once -- 19". I could not clear the standover; the bike was too short; the bike felt and handled like a toy!

My 19" mixte was too long. It handles sluggishly, but descends hills like a bullet. Forget about climbing, it's too heavy. The brakes were too slow and too big for my hands.

I sold a 46 cm Raleigh years ago -- I did not fully clear the top tube. It was modified to fit better, but a size 13 stem was excessive and made the bike handling "squirrelly." I also have big foot for my size and that bike had too much toe overlap -- probably because the cranks were long 175 mm's for climbing leverage.

I have a custom-built titanium and steel bike that did everything well except climb. It had low gears to get up steep hills, but the climbing took a long time. This is my spare event bike. I can use a 170 mm crank on this bike and I do not touch the front wheel.

I have a 46 cm Raleigh now, and Raleigh no longer offers this size frame -- however the same size is available in Diamondbacks and other makes that buy frames from the same factory in Taiwan. The 700 wheels have a good bit of toe-overlap. Sometimes the bike feels too short. I put a rack and panniers on it, but it does not balance that steadily for a heavier load. This bike cannot handle a longer crank.

I have a 48 cm compact Specialized Ruby that fits well when the stem is sized up 1 cm. The bike has toe-overlap (Specialized tries to minimized front wheel touching but my feet are just 1.5 cm too long!) which precludes cranks longer than 165 mm.

All small bikes compromise. the only tires available for 650 road wheels are 23 mm wide, whereas 700 mm road wheels will take 20 mm, 23 mm, 25 mm and even 28 mm tires. Wider 700 mm wheels handle 25 mm, 28 mm, 32 mm and 38 mm tires.

Choose your compromise or go to a custom builder like Harry Havnoonian or Steve Bilenky who have good reps for making small bikes that perform well.