you've probably been asked before but.....

[Sittingduck]

I would go to your local bike shop and speak to them. Ask to try 3 or 4 suitable bikes and pick the one that feels right. Don't overthink it too much... imho, you will 'just know' when you get on a bike that is right for you.

 

[Rob3rt]

I am well aware of such limitations, especially having relativelly recently been through the process of buying a bike for my girlfriend who is probably about the same height as you. But with these in mind, I still would not dismiss a mens frame. Women's specific bikes tend to be under specced, over priced and pinked out. Even if you have to change saddle and stem you might end up with more for your money with a small sized mens frame.

Not saying you shouldn't buy a female specific frame, but that you should not look solely at those as you are limiting your options.

 

[lulubel]

Rob - to be honest at 5 foot 2 inches its simpler to do this, as frankly all mens bikes are going to be an awkward fit even if the stores had a small frame version in stock to try. Its a bit like mens clothes - even if you go for an extra small mens jumper it never really fits you properly as we are such different shapes in general !
Short men my size will still tend to have bigger hands or longer torsos, plus the seat will def not be right and have to be changed at more cost.......

As a woman the same height as you, I totally agree with this.

My first road bike was a Trek 1.2WSD, which is the Lexa's predecessor, and it was a lovely bike. Sadly, some twit in a van pulled out in front of me and wrecked it. The reach on Trek's female specific bikes tends to be quite short, and unless I replaced it with another Trek, I was going to struggle to find something with a similar reach.

I ended up doing a custom build based on a unisex frame because I wanted a steel frame (for reasons I won't go into here), and it's taken me 6 months of fiddling around and changing components to get it exactly right.

If you've already fallen in love with either of the bikes you tried, just go ahead and buy it. Yes, you might get more for your money by buying a unisex model, but I doubt you'll get a bike that fits you perfectly straight out of the box, and you want your first road bike to be a good fit and confidence inspiring. Everything on a bike is upgradeable if you decide you want higher end components at a later date.