The mod fan is aiming to build on his historic Tour de France victory — so the trademark tufts will be in place as he competes in the London Games in just a few days.
And, shunning celebration bashes to relax with his family, the dedicated 32-year-old announced that he was about to hop in the saddle for a mere 20-mile "leg-stretcher".
Bradley — the first Brit to win the Tour — said outside his home in Eccleston, Lancs: "It'll take me about an hour."
Of his sideburns, he said: "I've thought about shaving them off but as they've become a bit of a talking point I don't dare now."
He went on: "I'm back home to relax with the wife and kids for a few days.
"I'm just going for a 20-mile spin on my bike — it's just a leg-stretcher for me.
"It's nice to be back cycling in the lanes I know so well. Then on Wednesday I'm going to drive to London for the Olympics."
He snubbed a Tour bash to be with wife Cath and kids Ben, seven, and Isabella, five. Cycling fans rode past his house all day hoping to get a glimpse of their hero, shouting: "Go Wiggo."
But modest Bradley admitted he was finding it difficult being in the limelight. He said: "I've felt overwhelmed. I took my son to Wigan to play rugby and everyone was stopping me to congratulate me.
"It's fantastic that cycling has crossed over into the mainstream."
Bradley has five days before he competes in the Olympic road race — then, in nine days, he is tipped to win the time trial event.
He already has six Olympic medals, three of them gold.
BRADLEY'S Tour de France win was watched by 3.6million ITV viewers on Sunday — the event's highest ever British rating.
- Says cycling hero Bradley Wiggins
in an extract from his autobiography
IN another exclusive extract from his autobiography, In Pursuit of Glory, Bradley tells of his passions for guitars, boxing and Belgian beers — and how wife Cath and kids Ben, seven, and Isabella, five, became the great stabilising force in his life.
"BEN'S birth was one of those great milestone moments that mark a couple's life — but I missed it.
I was off racing for a cycling team I despised when I should have been at my wife's side. I rushed home, but I was too late.
Cath had been intensely worried that having a family would have a negative effect on me.
When she rang to break the news that she was pregnant it was just as I had jetted off to the Olympics in Athens in 2004. She was in tears and told me: "I've wrecked it for you."
But she hadn't wrecked anything. It was exactly what I dreamed about. I was totally on cloud nine.
Until that point alcohol had certainly played a key part in many of the big events in my life. I was drunk on my wedding day. I'd been on the stag night until 6am and then had a few "sharpeners" in the bar beforehand.
By the end of the night I was in no state to carry Cath to the bedroom. I suspect I was carried to the bridal suite and laid out on the bed like a corpse.
Perhaps, like many cyclists, I have to max out on whatever I'm doing. I am naturally a collector and I became totally obsessed with accumulating boxing memorabilia, spending a small fortune at auction houses. Signed posters of Ali and Frazier — one in my broom cupboard I paid £800 for.
WINNING the Tour De France means more to Bradley Wiggins than the Olympics
The guitar mania started with my love of the Jam and Oasis and the need to fill my free time. Playing and learning is therapy, complete relaxation.
At home I can't put the guitar down and normally pack one when I go away. I've got eight or nine I really cherish. They are my pride and joy. Then I decided Belgian beer was going to be the latest grand passion in my life. They are all gorgeous and hit the spot.
I started collecting them seriously when Great Britain staged their pre-Olympic training camp in Belgium in 2004. I got home with a van laden with the stuff.
Football had been my first passion. We used to spend every daylight hour kicking a ball around outside the flats where we lived in Kilburn, London — but I had a dilemma. I was an Arsenal fanatic, but all my mates supported the enemy Spurs!"
Bradley says he was humiliated after his invite to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year bash after winning gold in Athens in 2004:
"Cath and I were sat in front with the other gold medallists. As the first Brit to get three medals at the same games for 40 years I was nervous but looking forward to five minutes of fame.
Then a rather self-important producer came up and said I would have to move to a seat at the back, away from the cameras, and there would be no room for Cath at all. Come the show, I scarcely got a mention. Not for the first time, cyclists had been sidelined.
I wasn't happy at all for myself, Cath and the sport itself."
In Pursuit of Glory by Bradley Wiggins, published by Orion, £8.99
A CRASH riding his bike aged just 12 set Bradley on the way to greatness.
He was knocked out and broke his collar bone after being sent flying by a car.
But he won £1,700 compensation from the driver, gave his mum £700 — and then spent the rest on his first proper racing bike.
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