Throbbing in outer quad above knee
As others have said, and as you said, the frame is probably too small for you which can cause pain and a bad time in general on your ride. 

I find I get pain in the Vatsus lateralis (outer quad) either when I am using too much quads all around and need to creep forward on the saddle and pull more with my hamstrings at a higher cadence, or, my posture is poor and my knees are collapsing toward the inside of the bike during the pedalstroke. 

If it's a real problem that you can't solve yourself without some third party perspective, I'd recmmend a professional bike fitting. They aren't cheap, usually a couple hundred dollars, and it's takes a few hours of your time. Some places will even have shims and heel cups for your shoes to get a really nice fit. 

If you still have pain after a couple weeks riding out from the fitting I'd see a doctor.