Osmolarity matters less than carb concentration which matters less than glucose:fructose ratio, which matters less than hourly intake rates.
Matters less in what way? Ease of absorption (GI issues)? Just making sure we are talking about the same thing.
If we fix 1:1 ratio and are trying to max hourly rate, then the only two variables left are osmolarity and concentration. I drink as much water after taking in carbs as I can tolerate. That leaves just osmolarity.
The past weekend I took in 2200 calories of sugar over a 4.5 hour hard bike effort (plus about 300 cal of bars 30 minutes prior) and started feeling funny in the gut towards the end, so I’m wondering whether fructose:malto has properties (including osmolarity) that would be able to push the max carb rate up.