Bike for 9yo son & Dad

My son will turn 9 in late Nov. I'm looking to buy a dirt bike for him for birthday/xmas present. I think I've narrowed it down to getting a Honda CRF 70 or 80.

I'm weighing a couple of thoughts.

1) This bike won't be ridden until next year, so he'll be 9 1/2 before he gets to ride it any distance and he's growing... fast... He's 4'8" 100 lbs now with a 26" inseam.

2) He has never ridden a motorcycle before (he rides a bicycle well, though).

#1 leans me in the direction of the 80 (or maybe even bigger?), but #2 leans me toward the 70 thinking that the auto-clutch will get him up and running more quickly. Plus I have another kid, he's 5YO now, so even if son #1 outgrows the 70cc bike in a season or so, son #2 can grow into it just as quickly.

Any opinions?

1) Size weight: 4"8" 100 lbs
2) Aggressiveness: moderate
3) What do you plan to ride? woods trails w/ Dad
4) Do you have any riding experience? Bicycle
5) Do you think you will race? Not on this bike
6) Are you mechanically inclined and will you be doing your own bike work? Dad is adequate, for a math-geek.
7) Do YOU have a preferance to a brand/ motor choice (2 or 4 stroke)? Probably Honda preferred, but others welcome.
8) Do you have a dealer close by your home that you might use and what brand(s) does he carry? All of the usual suspects are close by..
9) How much do you plan to spend on a bike? $1500 - $2000
10) anything else that you think would help form an opinion


Also, what about an XR650L for me to plod around behind him. I'm a big dude (300+) with quite a bit of street riding experience (everything from Honda Twinstars to Harleys to sidecar rigs) but very little dirt experience. I like the idea of a street legal dual sport - can use it to go back and forth to work too!

Thanks in advance,

Larry

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll get a XR/CRF 80 for him. My inlaws have a big flat back yard (like 8 acres) so he can learn the clutch in that relatively safe environment.

There are several lightly used 80s in the paper selling for like 1200 bucks. Not too bad.

As for me, my thought was that most of my riding would be on the street bopping the 16 miles (of mostly back roads if I choose to take a slightly longer route) back and forth to work at 50+ mpg. I would also like to take the boy up to the trails and bop along behind him. And I've done some dual sporting on my Ural sidecar rig, which is surprisingly capable on dirt roads and trails wide enough to get her down. It might be fun to do that on 2 wheels as well.

I thought the XR650L might be a good multi-purpose tool. I have also considered the DRZ400s but thought that might be a bit small for me as I'm like 300 lbs. Another thought is to get a dedicated off-road bike. Down that path, I've considered the KTM EX/C line, the Kaw KDX 220 or KLX300, the larger CRFs or even getting a 2 stroke MX bike, although that would probably be too much for me as a relative dirt newbie... I don't care too much about 4 stroke vs 2 stroke, but I don't want to be doing a ton of maintenance after every ride.

I'd appreciate any further advice if this additional information helps clarify.

Thanks again.

Larry