My 11yo has recently outgrown her kids bike and is asking to get a bike “like Daddy’s” (and like her older sister), meaning a road bike with drop bars and “skinny” tires. I have no concerns about her being able to handle the drop bars and learning the shifters, etc., as she is sharp as a tack, but do they make bikes like this small enough for someone who is 4’-8"? Any other suggestions? I’m thinking she would also be ok with some type of flat bar “road” bike if there are more options like this for small people. Any advice appreciated. Thanks all!
Yes, there are 24" road bikes out there. They can be pricey, even second hand, but hold their value well.
I bought Trek KDR-1000s for both my daughters and they work well. One has probably out-grown hers, so I may be looking to sell soon. Check ebay though.
Fuji makes smaller road bikes. I think Performance Bike stocks them.
well, she is likely going to grow a bunch rather quickly at that age and height, so what you get today may not work tomorrow.
I bought both my kids smaller bike a few years back and am now trying to sell them as they have outgrown them and never really used them either. kid control over doing things with parents. seems my kids were teens well before being teens and now as teen/tween are much more agreeable to everything.
I had/have a Felt F24 for youngest(would have been 9ish) and a Felt F95 in 48cm for oldest(would have been 12ish) waste of my money on them as they prefer the single speed flat bar bikes after outgrowing the 24" pseudo spec mtn bikes
so you can likely find a 650 wheel size or wait for her to grow a bit more(my daughter is 12 and growing about 1/4" every month at 5-2 and only avg height)
My daughter is 11, until last year she was on Fuji Ace 24, that bike was 28lb with 650 wheels, it was a boat anchor. She is 60lb so half of her weight, I can’t imagine riding 90lb bike myself 
http://www.fujibikes.com/bike/details/ace-246
There are not that many bikes for kids on the market, last year I switched her to bigger lighter bike:
Frame size 44, cranks 170cm with 80mm stem, This bike should last for a while and it is only 11lb.
https://instagram.com/p/2KDY8Zy6DY/
You would need to try smallest frame sizes for woman, Giant has some good options and Trek as well.
Specialized Dolce is a great bike that comes in such small sizes, lots of kids ride them. My kid got on one at 10. And they are very much a real bike. My wife rode a Vermont 100 on one.
I highly recommend Islabikes: http://www.islabikes.co.uk/ - they are distributed in the US.
Their bikes are designed for the size they are made - they aren’t scaled down versions of adult bikes. The bikes are relatively light and easy to handle. Not inexpensive, but a better option than many of the bigger brands I think.
How tall is she? My 11yo daughter is 5’6, and I got her a (Fuji) 50cm 700c bike. If she isn’t as tall, Felt makes a really sweet kid’s road bike: http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2016/Bikes/road/race/f95-jr.aspx
What is your budget? My son’s 10th bday is coming up and I was going through the same deal. There was a great 46cm bike here but it depends on how much you’re looking to spend. I ended up getting a slightly too large bike locally and he’ll ride his current boat anchor until probably this summer if he keeps on the growth pattern he’s on. Should keep him good to go for a year or two and then will keep playing the game of selling and buying until he stops growing, gets tired of cycling, I go broke, or he goes to college (the two might also be correlated)
check out Farrier bicycles , we love their 24 and 650 road bikes for kids.
Culprit has some junior bikes at http://culpritbicycles.com/. I see a few Garneau junior bikes around as well. You can probably find something used on ebay or craigslist, which might make the most sense since the bikes will not have been used for more than a year or two.
Jamis used to (they may still) make a 44" with 700 wheels. We swapped out the stem for my son when he was 10 or 11 and it “just fit” - We’ve been able to continually adjust it for the last few years so well worth the money. Buy it a little big - they grow fast…
Seconding Islabikes. Rather than using adult-size components on a smaller frame they shrink everything to kid proportions (shifters, bars, Q-factor, etc.).
Frogbikes. They make bikes for kids.
Even have a small team sky racing bike at my LBS.