Hellos
5ft 6" not toooo short though so you might find you'll fit on more bikes than you expected.
You can get longer wishbones (also called dog bones) to lower the bike...problem with them is you then need to drop the front end through to keep the weight distribution the same(otherwise it will handle **** out of corners)...which is all well except you loose alot of ground clearance and might find the pegs touching base round corners if you ride hard.
400's are quite common with shorties...they can also prove to be costly to maintain though.
(ZXR400 is the best of them really when it comes to living with one...GSXR400 1990 onwards also good......Hondas are ok if you can swallow the high parts costs!)
One bike not mentioned here but is started to become pouplar with the ladys is the CCM R30 (Suzuki based 644cc version)...not got a massive top end only 110mph but it's a peach of a ride and handles so well (Even though I ride a TL1000R a little voice keeps telling me to get one lol)...They seem to be going on ebay for peanuts at the moment.
Bandit 600...ok smallish engine but the bike is physically quite big as is a Hornet 600 (From a shorties perspective anyway!)....both can be lowered but again you just need to get on one and try em
I've always been a suzuki person myself but I'm not keen on the latest GSXR's build quality on them is paper thin....better off getting a 636 but they ain't cheep even 2nd hand! (They hold their value well)
End of the day, try as many as you can, I've always been one for sportsbikes better tyre choice for them if nothing else got me into them
