If you start to think in terms of Pad X,Y and not frame size, it will be easier to get on the correct tri bike. Otherwise I'll just confuse you further and say get a 48cm QR X-PR, cuz it's really a 50.

It seems as though bike manufactures and bike shops don't care about smaller people anymore.

I hope you find what you are looking for.

I can't find a new stock bike that will fit me at all.

I ride a 50 cm road bike. My only TT bike is a 49/S QR. They both fit great. But, yes, finding these sizes is a challenge. Recently, I had to rent a 44 cm road bike b/c the next available size was 52. The same is true for a race in 2024. I'll be on a rental 44 cm bike b/c anything between that same and a 52 was unobtainiam.

I do not know what this means, "Pad X,Y". I barely have a functioning knowledge of road bike geometry.

Don't get too hung up on the "49-50cm range". A small from one brand might be very similar to a medium in another, a 47 in yet another, 52 in a 4th and so on. There's no standard as to what a size really means.

If you stick to the same brand, then you at least have a decent chance that it will fit reasonably similar. But even that is no guarantee.

This is why we use stack/reach, or better yet pad x/y. A bike fitter can certainly help

But finding smaller sized frames are not the easiest... my wife is 5'2" (which isn't super short) and there's only a few that makes frames that fits well.

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"Suddenly the thought struck me. My floor is someone elses ceiling"-Nils Ferlin

I can certainly relate. I'm 5'4" (OK, maybe 20 years ago I was 5'4". Probably 5'3" now) so I need a smaller frame just to have the adjustability to get it where I need it. My first real bike (i.e. not a Walmart special) was a CAAD 4 that was a 54cm frame. I could ride it in reasonable comfort, but I pretty much had everything slammed to get the proportions right. Now that I've gone down to 49 and 50cm road bike frames, I have far more variability to fine tune seat height, reach and stack to get me comfortable on the bike.

Since I've found that on road bikes, one thing I've considered is just converting a road bike to a TT set up. Really all that would be needed are the bar end shifters and brake levers. That part would be easy enough, but I don't know if there would really be any advantage. The whole point of me looking at TT/triathlon frames is that seat angle.

https://www.slowtwitch.com/...Pad_Y/X__5859.html#:~:text=Pad%20Y%20refers%20to%20the,%2C%20horizontally%2C%20to%20pad%20center.

Holy crap. I like to think I'm a fairly smart cookie, but that went right over my head.

Pad X/Y is simply the location of your aero bar pads relative to the bottom bracket.

It's that same at the other end.
Try getting something when 6ft6in.
Now try it without wanting to spend $10-15k.