New dirtbike?

You have sort of boxed yourself in, so I guess the question is what are YOU going to do?

A crf150f? Just a couple inches shorter than the r and a lot less fuss.....

Sounds like he's looking for something like I am looking for, for my son.
Are the 150R's pretty fussy? I've heard the maintenance can be overwhelming?

If you are looking for the low maintenance needs of a XR/CRF-R and the chassis of a CRF-R your going to have to build it. Exactly what I did for myself because nobody builds that bike from the factory.

The 150R needs more love than a trail bike because it's a race bike (duh!). The factory won't build them because the market isn't really there, most folks think they "need" a race bike and they are happy to sell them one. Plus would you really be willing to pay almost full 150R pricing for one? Most people would rather feel like a racer. Of course what is fussy? If you expect it to be an oil & gas only ride a 150R will be a disappointment when it gets some hours on it. Same holds true for most and CR/RM/YZ/KX/SX 85/100 as well. My neighbor's kid used to have an old beater XR80 that was handed down from older siblings. Ran when he wanted to ride but wasn't as cool as it needed to be. So they picked up a new 150R. It was great until the valves needed adjusted, then the top end... then the bottom end... I think it's either sitting in the garage not running or was sold off.

Funny thing is back when I was a kid you either graduated up to a XR75 or a YZ/RM80 race bike and we all happened to adapt to them and live to tell the tail.

Patman - do you have any pics of the bike you built? Would love to check it out.