Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image carrier that carries an image;
• a transfer body that nips and transports a sheet of paper in a contact area of the transfer body and the image carrier, and transfers the image to the sheet;
• a pair of transport members disposed upstream of the contact area with respect to a transport direction of the sheet to transport the sheet toward the contact area;
• a first guide member that has an upstream portion and a downstream portion with respect to the transport direction, the upstream portion being supported in a cantilever fashion between the contact area and the pair of transport members with the downstream portion being a free end portion, the first guide member guiding a non-transfer surface of plain paper such that a transfer surface of the plain paper comes into contact with an outer periphery of the image carrier on an upstream side of the contact area with respect to the transport direction, the first guide member guiding a non-transfer surface of heavy paper in a state in which the first guide member is pressed by the non-transfer surface of the heavy paper and elastically deformed toward the transfer body with respect to the image carrier;
• and
• a second guide member that has an upstream portion and a downstream portion with respect to the transport direction, the upstream portion being supported in a cantilever fashion between the contact area and the pair of transport members with the downstream portion being a free end portion, the second guide member guiding the transfer surface of the plain paper in a state in which the second guide member is pressed by the first guide member with the plain paper interposed between the second guide member and the first guide member, and is elastically deformed toward the image carrier with respect to the transfer body, the second guide member guiding a transfer surface of the heavy paper in a state in which the second guide member is elastically returned toward the transfer body with respect to the image carrier;
• wherein each of the first guide member and the second guide member is a resin film having elastic deformation and made of a resin material, and
• an amount of deflection per unit load at a free end of the second guide member is greater than the amount of deflection per unit load at a free end of the first guide member.