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“Numbers are usually metonymous in nature.”

Maybe Bergman would have to look that one up.

He knew what he was wearing and what other bikers would take it to mean. If he wore the 13 patch because he really meant it to mean something like “the Mystery of the Missing 13th floor” he could have been not only misunderstood by the serious bikers whose company he esteemed, but beaten into a bloody pulp.

He did not have a metonymous meaning in mind.

No, it was not the Mystery of the Missing 13th floor.

It meant what Bandidos in Texas take it to mean, nothing more, nothing less.

This is not one-over-the-world speculation or Alice in Wonderland.

No. He wore the patch to communicate to other members of the group he rode to T.P. with that day such as Bandido President David Martinez. Would he take the chance to wear on his person, some symbolism, that could be misinterpreted by so “esteemed a Person” in his biker circle? NO.

You're overdramatizing the matter. It's a patch. As others have noted, it's more or less a companion patch to another. The analogy of a Confederate flag is a very good one. It means, probably, that the guy's Southern. Or just maybe, likes the Southern culture. Or the Dukes of Hazzard. Or even just likes to piss off the politically correct.

But very, very unlikely that he is a Civil War reenactor with responsibility for replica musket and cannon logistics, right? Although your actual reenactor will probably bear the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia (there, threw that in for the purists) on his gear too.

He knew what he was wearing and what other bikers would take it to mean. If he wore the 13 patch because he really meant it to mean something like “the Mystery of the Missing 13th floor” he could have been not only misunderstood by the serious bikers whose company he esteemed, but beaten into a bloody pulp.

More overdrama. That is not how it works.

He did not have a metonymous meaning in mind.

A number patch is, by definition, metonymous.

No, it was not the Mystery of the Missing 13th floor.

Funny...

It meant what Bandidos in Texas take it to mean, nothing more, nothing less.

Agree, and that meaning is nothing to do with drugs or violence, rather with philosophical outlook. For example, I have a few patches in order on the front of my own vest. One on top of the other.

Consider those patches as arrayed.

Are they meant to indicate that I am

generously endowed;
have a preference for military personnel;
and in penetrating their females from behind

Or might it simply be that I'm well over two meters tall and weigh more than an eighth of a ton, am married to a remarkably lovely former USAF officer, and I happen to think the flag patch is hot?

Not everything is a secret sign or blatant assault on the good church ladies of TexasGator's neighborhood. Don't read too much into it. In fact, it would probably be safer to assume - at least where a three piece patch club is involved - that patches are pretty standard, and less customized to the individual, than you might think. I am not a member of a club. Consequently, each individual patch I wear is personally selected for opinion or effect or humor or what have you, and arranged similarly according to my own taste.

A club vest, by contrast, is the property of the club and you're not going to see a whole lot of customization on them any more than you'd see such customization on a military uniform.

Similarly, the Bandido or Desgraciados club member is not likely to give the diamond 13 patch a whole lot of thought, any more than an Army officer is going to give a whole lot of thought about the one piece of piping on his uniform v. another part. "It's just part of the uniform."

In this case, it's probably just a standard part of the cut. Don't read lurid things into it. Mundanity, while undramatic, tends to be the rule in life.