That's about eleven inches, plenty. Sure, shorter arms would help, as would lower-q arms and small clipless pedals. One of my bikes is a 700c fg converted mtb. I've never measured the drop but it is really pretty close to level with the axles (really freaking high). With kinda wide 165s and spd size pedals and really sticky 35mm tires I'm still very able to smash the pedals into the ground if I just stay seated through any left turn over 18mph and any right over 12.
One technique I picked up motorcycling on non-crotchrockets is pointing my toes down in turns to feel for the pavement before any bikeparts touch it. With fg it means making it a point of not just dropping into the corner with intent to pop back up, but rather swinging wide and easing down into the lean and contorting your inside ankle to touch the floor with your toes. A secondary benefit is you carry more speed. I'd recommend learning this first.
Another technique that I found I require when I got used to that speed and going faster is standing while pedalling and rocking the bike with the pedal motion- pushing the bars down towards the pavement as my inside foot comes up and then flopping the bike up away as that foot comes down. I have no clue how much more dumb it looks than just going <20mph through turns (probably pretty dumb), what I do know is that on a hot sunny day I could get my bars within a foot of the ground, maintaining nearly the same speed I had going straight and not wreck.
Maybe just sacrifice some webcred and get a freewheel?
Last edited by MattoftheRocks; 10-04-14 at 07:27 AM.