I'm a short guy too and I had a VERY custom frame made for me by Paul Hillbrick in Sydney Australia. I asked Paul to build it with lugs and he did so as he's an experienced builder. When I do it again I will drop the requirement for lugs. Lugs are great but I was just making things hard for the builder.

I haven't RANTED about frame design for small people for YEARS. Anyway, my two bobs worth is start with a SHORT set of cranks. 150mm max, 140mm or 135mm might be nice. Set the bottom bracket low for the shorter cranks. You will then find that the required seat tube angle will be VERY relaxed, say 69 to 71 degrees and you will need to pull the front centre distance right back. Um, OK, you will probably need smaller wheels. My custom has 650c wheels or you could go 24" mountain which you can get good quality Schwable road tires for.

Still with me? About now lugs are out the window.

Why would you do this anyway? You do this to put a small rider in the same riding position as a taller rider. We are building a bike to truly suit the rider rather than messing around with a compromise to fit the rider to the bike.

Anthony