Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus for transporting a recording medium on which an image is formed, comprising:

• a guide plate to guide the recording medium to a predetermined position in the image forming apparatus, the guide plate including a flexible sheet member and a rigid holding member to hold the flexible sheet member such that the flexible sheet member projects from a front end of the rigid holding member,
• wherein a projecting portion of the flexible sheet member includes at least three flexible sub-portions having different bend-stiffness per unit area from each other, and the bend-stiffness per unit area is reduced toward a downstream side in a sheet guide direction,
• wherein the at least three flexible sub-portions of the flexible sheet member comprise at least three flexible overlapping sub-sheets, tips of which are offset from one another at different positions, and
• wherein one of the flexible sub-sheets having the smallest bend-stiffness per unit area in the sheet guide direction is provided at a second sheet from an image bearing member side, and the tip of the second flexible sub-sheet projects furthest from a holding member side, while the tip of a first sheet from the image bearing side projects second furthest from the holding member.