Originally Posted by
Me2gingko
Is this normal?~Laura
First of all congratulations on getting a very fine vintage bicycle. The Chicago made Super Sports were fillet brazed. That means the tubes were held together with melted brass. The heat from melting the brass and getting the tubes hot enough so the brass will flow around them distorts the seat tube. It will not come apart and it can not be "fixed" and is nothing to worry about. Most people would never notice the curve that was the result of the manufacturing process.
I'll be interested to see how you decide to spread the dropouts apart so the rear wheel can slide into the slots without effort. The goal is to have the dropouts equidistant from the centerline of the frame and the dropout faces parallel to each other. Park among many other tool manufacturers makes tools just for that purpose. Bike stores occasionally have them. Framebuilders like myself always have them.