Observation
#1 : Lens distortion aside, the main triangle appears to be at the correct angles.
Observation
#2 : I'm used to seeing the paint wrinkling on the top rear edge of the upper headtube lug from cold-setting
after a front-end crash, not from the crash itself.
Observation
#1 : The wide focal length of most simple cameras distort pictures with a bulge in the center - but it looks like there's a
downwards curve to the top tube; the opposite of what I'd expect to see from optical distortion. I suspect this may be the case in actuality, and not anything optical.
Hypothesis: I believe this frame was in a front-ender early in life, and was cold-set back into factory alignment with a (gasp) Park HTS-1 or similar tool. Depending on the tubing, the HTS-1 does have the ability to get a headtube back in alignment, but a light wrinkle often remains. The top tube tends to bow during the cold setting as well, resulting in the downwards bow I'm seeing here.
Put a straightedge on the top and bottom of the top tube. If it rocks on the bottom and has a gap at the top, it's almost certain that this frame was cold-set back into alignment after an old crash.
As for the bulge on the seatpost, I'd almost want to say damage from a stuck post, but this looks like the original here. It's probably as others have said here - a bulge caused by a side impact to the seattube.
At any rate, if the headtube is at the proper angle, I wouldn't part this one out. Definitely wouldn't cut it up - there are many other bad wrecks out there for it!
If you do part it out, throw the frame up on the Sales forum (or - hey - Pay It Forward, if you feel so inclined) with the ripples and this thread noted. Pretty sure you'll find someone here willing to live with the frame's history so long as the head angle is right. There are also a few
nuts "adventerous frame straighteners" here (myself included) who'd probably be willing to straighten anything that's still bent (case in point, the headtube and seattube may not be on the same vertical plane).
At any rate, it presents nicely. Provided that the frame has been cold set back to where it belongs, it should ride as intended, or close to it. Ishiwata 022 isn't heat treated tubing - the chances of it cracking in future are unlikely. And if it does, I wouldn't expect it to be catastrophic. Plus, if it does break, it'll be so far off in the future (even if some monster cranks on it all day for the next 5 years), it won't owe anyone anything by then.
-Kurt