my wife has a '73 raleigh sports, ladies' frame. it's in nice shape and she wants to turn it into a heavy-duty city bike with front and rear baskets for hauling groceries, etc. i'm concerned about the strength and integrity of the frame, especially the seat tube where it meets with the sloped top tube. when i look at the lug that holds the top tube to the seat tube, the tube coming out of the lug (heading up to the seat) looks slightly kinked right at the lug. when you look at the seat tube from the side, the tube above the lug is not perfectly straight with the lower tube (going down to the BB). it seems like that particular joint on the bike is basically the one that supports the weight of the rider and prevents the bike from collapsing. the thing is, i've been looking at a lot of old women's raleighs, and at least half of them look that way!!! i would have guessed that those two tubes (the upper and lower seat tube segments...or is it just one seat tube?) are soldered into the lug perfectly straight. i'm worried that her frame has buckled ever so slightly, but how could it be possible that so many other frames i look at appear the same way? is it just an artifact of the manufacturing? did they come like that from the factory? do i need to worry about that top tube just bending forward under heavy load or after hitting a big bump?

this is the joint i am referring to (not my wife's bike, just a random internet pic):



in the above pic, the tube segments above and below the lug appear pretty straight.

and in this example, you can *clearly* see what i am talking about (another random internet pic):



doesn't the upper part of the seat tube (above the lug) look slightly bent forward relative to the lower part (below the lug)?