Sheet conveying apparatus and image forming apparatus

A sheet conveying apparatus, comprising:

• a first conveyance roller pair configured to nip and convey a sheet;
• a second conveyance roller pair arranged downstream of the first conveyance roller pair and configured to nip and convey the sheet conveyed by the first conveyance roller pair, and to form a nip portion that comes into contact with a leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the first conveyance roller pair to bend the sheet;
• a width-direction shifting unit configured to shift the sheet nipped by the second conveyance roller pair in a width direction, perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction, by shifting the second conveyance roller pair in the width direction;
• a first drive unit configured to rotate the first conveyance roller pair;
• a second drive unit configured to rotate the second conveyance roller pair;
• and
• a control unit configured to control the first and second drive units so that a circumferential speed of the first conveyance roller pair is made higher than that of the second conveyance roller pair between when the second conveyance roller pair starts conveying the sheet and when the width-direction shifting unit completes shifting the second conveyance roller pair in the width direction.