Now a fitting question

[Triskeliongirl]

I tend to agree with Emily that based on what you told us, the 47-48 cm bikes are likely too big, and I also agree with Kathi that you MUST pay attention to seat tube angle with a long femur. I am a bit taller, 5'4", but I have a 3 cm LLD so my bike is fit to my short leg, with a dropped pedal for the long leg. I also have a very long femur. I can ride a 17.5" - 19" frame, but chose the 17.5" terry frames since they have a slack seat tube angle (73 degrees), and short top tubes (48.3-49.3 in the models I have). What I like about this, is that I can put a reasonable length stem (10-11 cm) and normal reach bars on (nitto noodle), which gives me better handling than bikes with longer top tubes, and a short stem and short reach bar. There aren't a lot of bikes out there with slack seat tubes though in the smaller frame sizes. I ride a tery titanium isis as my go fast bike, and an upgraded drop bar classic as my commuter/touring bike, both in 17.5". I think it is more important to look for the right top tube length and seat tube angle, than a specific frame size, assuming you have adequate top tube clearance, and can get the right saddle height, handlebar height, and KOP.