I've pared down my touring kit to an ultralight collection of bubble-gum wrappers, marbles, and scotch tape. I'm unsure about it's exact weight but it's quiet light. I'd like to take a trip using only a set of front panniers mounted to a Tubus rack and my trusty granny basket front-mounted to a mini rack. I'm afraid to make the full commitment without running the idea past the wise folks here first, however. My heavier items would be stored in the panniers while my lighter items would end up in the granny basket.

I'm concerned about screwing up the weight distribution. Here's my logic/questions, so far:
Does the majority of a rider's weight primarily effect the rear end of the bike?;
Would proactively avoiding adding to that weight on the rear, and instead opting to 'distrubute' any additional weight to the front end be a sound approach to riding a touring bike?

I'm not suggesting that I plan to carry an anvil up front, but I am toying with the idea of carrying all of my modestly weighted jibber-jabber there.

Thanks!