[Shazaam!]

In stock form, the 996 gearing is the tallest of any model Ducati, absurdly tall, completely unusable in the higher gears on the street or track in my opinion. Except for the 916, all the other Ducati models use the close ratio gearbox, consequently no other model uses a 1.84 primary ratio with a standard gearbox like the 996. I guess they needed it to meet exhaust emissions and noise limits.

The need here is to bring the higher gears into play because they are more closely spaced than the lower gears and therefore more usable. So unless you plan mostly high speed usage, any 996 needs a sprocket change.

The most popular change is to 15/43 98-link or the equivalent 14/40 96-link. You probably won't be happy with anything less.